Author:
Cezar Renta
Sep 19th, 2008
This started in 1982, September 19, when Scott Fahlman posts the folloing messages to Carnegie Mellon University’s BBS board:
“From: Scott E Fahlman
I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:
: -)
Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use:
: -( ”
With this following post, Scott E Fahlman became the father of the world known emoticon. The need for implementing such way, as Fahlman states, was that most frequently, people couldn’t differentiate jokes or irony from serious matter, in virtual environments. The emoticon was born to add a more expressive “touch” and, till today, to be present in our ordinary lives on our phone (sms, mms), emails, instant messengers or forums.
So, let’s drink a cup of Jolt Cola for our little emoticon here.
Source: Wired
