...I used to use smilies more until a couple years ago, I read a quote by Lance Armstrong in a sports magazine (when he was still doing endorsements, or it was an old issue in a doctor's office).
I don't recall the product [was Radio Shack], and I'm sure the quote had nothing to do with the product, but his
tough-guy quote was something like:
"Real men over thirty don't use smilies...period"
PPS: I
googled the quote.