Today marks the World Smile Day and the day is celebrated every year. It was first started in 1999 by the creator of the smiley, Harvey Ball, the holiday celebrates the intent behind the now universally recognized icon – to bring a smile on the faces of people around the world.
Significance of World Smile Day
The purpose of the day was the move away from the commercialization of the smiley and to use it as a symbol of kindness and affection.
The smiley made its debut in 1963 as a way to increase the morale of the employees of a life insurance company. Today, it is one of the most popular nonverbal ways to convey joy, happiness, and cheer. The smiley face began as a bright yellow circle with two dots to represent eyes and a black line that represents a smiling mouth.
There are many different versions of the smiley, representing many other human emotions such a sadness, surprise, worry, and laughter. In modern texting, smileys are used to express emotions in online conversations on a smartphone or on a computer. The practice has its origin in Japan, and the smileys and other icons are known as emoji.
Celebration of World Smile Day
The day can be celebrated by making people around you smile, doing a random act of kindness, buying a stranger a coffee, complimenting someone, giving your seat up to someone on the bus, surprising someone in your family with a visit, cooking a meal for them, or doing something special for them and it can be also done by volunteering your time and/ or money at a local nonprofit organization.
International Translation Day 2019: Date, theme and objective of the day
