World Smile Day | October 7
World Smile Day was invented by an artist from Worcester (USA), Harvey Ball, who happened to have gone down in history by creating the famous smiley in 1963. This day has been celebrated in many countries since 1999.
“Smiley Face”
Harvey Ball died in 2001 and the “Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation” was created in his memory. Its slogan “Let’s improve this world through a smile”, it works every year as an official sponsor of World Smile Day.
Harvey Ball (seated) at 35th Anniversary of Smiley public signing event in Worcester MA. That’s E staff photog, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A further crossing of the Atlantic…
Harvey Ball had omitted to file his work, which thus went straight into the public domain in the USA, bringing only a few dollars of graphic research to its author.
In 1972, a French journalist -Franklin Loufrani- took up the idea and transformed it. He uses it in the press but has – previously – made sure to file his drawing with the INPI (National Institute of Intellectual Property). He creates a company called “Smiley World” with which he will market a range of Smiley products that will ensure his fortune.
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The internet era
When the internet arrives, the little yellow face adapts and is written with punctuation marks 🙂
Nicolas Loufrani, the son of the previous one, decides to design icons inspired by his Smiley to replace the “text emoticons”. The first graphic emoticons appeared and were made available to Internet users free of charge. Smileys and emoticons are still present in our lives, but we now use the term “emojis” to designate them.
Sayings about “smiling” for this World Smile Day
“For someone who has only seen closed faces all day, a smile is a ray of sunshine. ” – Chinese proverb.
“Don’t cry because it’s over, but smile because it happened.” – Yiddish proverb.
“The mouth smiles badly when the heart is hurt.” – French proverb.
“No one needs a smile more than he who has none left to offer.” – Chinese proverb.
“Your smile is a gift you give to your fellow human beings.” – North African proverb.
“A smile costs nothing, but it creates a lot. ” – American proverb.
“A friend’s smile is expensive. ” – African proverb.
“A smile better suits the happiness of the earth. ” – French proverb.
“Every fit of anger is getting old, every smile is getting young.” – Chinese proverb.
“The face that does not know how to smile is the accusing witness of an evil heart. ” – Basque proverb.
“Who smiles will reach his goal. ” – Algerian proverb.
“No one is rich enough to live without a smile. ” – American proverb.
“Smiling three times every day makes any medicine unnecessary.” – Chinese proverb.
“The smile you send comes back to you.” – Hindu proverb.
“When you meet a man too tired to smile at you, offer him yours. ” – American proverb.
“Every tear is answered with a smile. ” – Turkish proverb.
“A smile has more effect than a frown. ” – American proverb.
“A smile can only be answered with a smile.” – Anonymous.
“Smiling is the best way to show your teeth to fate.” – Anonymous.
“Smile even if your smile is sad, because if there is anything sadder than a sad smile, it is the sadness of not knowing how to smile.” – Anonymous.
Sources: PinterPandai, National Today, Days of the Year
Photo credit: Kranich17 via Pixabay
