Black smiley face with white text inside of a big grin on a blue background.

The is a variation of the classic yellow smiley face which is comprised of a yellow circle, two black dots for eyes and a black arc ending in serifs for a mouth. It  was designed in 1963 by by commercial artist, Harvey Ross Ball. Ball was commissioned by The State Mutual Life Insurance Company to create a happy face to raise the morale of their employees. His version was created in 10 minutes. The design was printed onto more than 50 million buttons. Neither Ball nor the company copyrighted this smiley, so it was continually used by other businesses in their promotions. 

The design and concept is quite simple and was definitely used before Ball’s 1963 version. However his has become the most iconic. Variations have been used for advertising campaigns and in popular culture ever since.

Illustration of a white egg with a smile, closed eyes, and a golden halo floating above the top of the egg. Black stenciled font text lies in the top center portion of the button. The illustration and text lies on a multi-colored striped background.  

"Good egg" and "bad egg" are common phrases to describe a person with appealing or unappealing characters. According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the word egg came to reference a person because the oval shape of an egg resembles the human head. In American English, a good egg was originally an agricultural term dating back to Civil War times. It was an inversion of a bad egg which could not be marketed. Since then, "good egg" has come to mention a person with good character. The image of this button, manufactured by hallmark, is a humorous take-off on the concept of "good egg". The halo on top of the egg implies the heavenly character of the egg/person, whereas image of egg with horns and tails often refers to bad egg because it resembles the image of the devil. 

Text that is red on top and green on bottom with a background that is green on top and red on the bottom. 

'Go fly a kite' is an idiom or phrase that is used to tell someone to go away because they are annoying or they have done or said something irritating. The phrase is no longer commonly used. The phrase arose in the 1940s where it was popular on shows and other forms of entertainment for a few decades. The phrase may have originated from its literal meaning. If person were to go fly a kite, they would have to walk away to do so. 

Large white text on a red background

This button was most likely worn by the delegation from Nebraska to the Republican National convention in 1969 as well as at the inauguration of Richard Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew in 1969.

Red text on a yellow background. 

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An illustration of a hand holding fire accompanied by red text, both on a yellow background. 

Armour and Company was founded in Chicago in 1867 by Philip Danforth Armour. It's success made Chicago a central meat packing location for the country, helping the city grow in prominence.

This button is from the "breezy button" collection from Armour Star meat packing company. The buttons were included as a free gift in every package of Armour franks (hot dogs) during the 1950s. The collection had 24 buttons, each with a catchy, "breezy" slogan.

Large uppercase black text on a silver background.

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Black text and text with a red body and black outline on a red background. 

The phrase "cotton-picking," sometimes spelled as "cotton-picken" or "cotton-pickin'" to signify a dialect, is used as an intensifier to describe something that is unpleasant or troublesome or of little value. The idiom arose in the southern U.S. states sometime during the 1700 among slaves. 

Bugs Bunny may have popularized the phrase "Wait just a cotton-picking minute" and fixed it to our language. Here's an example in Bully for Bugs, 1953: "Just a cotton-pickin' minute, this don't look like the Coachella Valley to me!"

Red text on a white background. 

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White bubble text and purple and pink hearts on a red background. 

Saint Valentine's Day, also known as Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is a holiday observed on February 14 each year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it is not an official holiday in most of them. The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In eighteenth-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending hand-written cards.