Yes, we're all guilty of using them. When we're happy, sad, mad, bashful, feeling cheeky or when there are no other words that can describe what we're feeling. The smiley face began a revolution of the computer-geek shorthand, emoticons. After stumbling across this image I began wondering--how did this all begin? My research has produced some interesting results..
While the excact date and inventor is still undetermined--there are a couple of guys which claim to be the "first":
1979 Kevin Mackenzie
He used this symbol -) which meant "tounge in cheek", although his technique didn't seem to catch on.
September 19, 1982 Scott E. Fahlman
He supports his claim --->here, a website dedicated to his story. He also includes the exact message from the original bboard thread where he first used the smiley --->here
And thus began the growing phenomenon of the emoticon. They can depict basic emotions, actions, items, descriptions..even celebrities. They vary according to language and culture. Creating images and symbols from typography has taken over the world of new media.
Tell me about it. Some people have gotten really creative with those things though. I cannot tell you how many chain e-mails I've gotten that are pictures of faces, or flowers and whatnot made completely from apostrophes, periods and parenthases - they're annoying to recieve but they take a ton of effort.
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