If an insertion in parentheses ends with a smiley, how do I distinguish between the two?

Question

I know smileys are not part of written language (yet), and any questions about them are irrelevant to linguistics and are kind of not serious. So take my question with a smiley then. It bugs me every time I'm facing this situation: if an insertion in parentheses ends with a smiley, what should I do? > * A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :) ) can be annoying. * A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :)) can be annoying. * A lot of insertions in parentheses (well, if it's not Lisp :) can be annoying. I don't like any of the above. Any (clever) suggestions?

Answer 1

The most correct way is your second suggestion: (well, if it's not a Lisp :)). One thing you could try is to insert a "nose": (well, if it's not a Lisp :-)). For some reason, that looks a little better to me.