Smile :-) It’s your anniversary!
25 years ago today, on September 19th, 1982, Scott Fahlman, a professor from Carnegie Melon University, invented the sideways smiley face :-) 
which is sometimes also called Emoticon! So,
Happy 25th Anniversary to the ubiquitous Smiley that we have come to love so much…
As is usually expected, there have been several disputes about Mr. Fahlman, Research Professor at Carnegie University being the first to discover the smiley emoticon, and I just found his response to a thread that he posted just about a couple of hours ago on one of the Google news article – oh yes, did you know you can comment on any Google news article now?
Although the graphical yellow smiley face was invented by
Harvey Ball in 1964
Can the new generations even believe how life would have been without the colon-hyphen- parenthesis combination ? :-)
Some people have told me I use too many smileys in my conversations, well, yes, I do… :-) It makes the conversation a bit light hearted, doesn’t it?
Do you use smileys in your emails? or you refrain from using too many, but do use a few? or you are the kind who has come to hate so many of these emoticons? I’d love to know how you use them, and if you don’t then why don’t you use them?
I use smiley a lot. Until some reader tell me I have a childish attitude! :wink:
Happy anniversary too. I can’t imagine the world of words without smileys. It’s a pitch black, I think! :D
Thats so cool.I didnt know that but now i do. I USE THEM ALL THE TIME :)
I say use them :) although in this template whenever I add smilies in the post text, the format gets messed up :-) oh well….. I say use them and keeping that child alive in us is a must …. right kaylee??
[...] as i read in interesting observations: its the smilys 25th anniversary!!! it was originally “invented” by Scott E. Fahlman, [...]
//I say use them and keeping that child alive in us is a must …. right kaylee??//
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
I use them pretty often. A lot of times you want to joke or tease someone online but you want to let them know you are only joking so they don’t mistake it for a serious dig. I also am pretty silly at times so I don’t know what I would do without them! ;)
right….. I think our online conversations would become so darn boring without emoticons… they are half the fun for me LOL see I was gonna put a smiley there again :) I wonder who would hate them though…..too much use can get annoying but hating them? is beyond me ….
Interesting, I did not know the story of :)
I use them a lot in emails.
:o Pearl
I don’t use them at all !!!!!!
=)) :D I-)
:-x
hey Simonne – yeah, isn’t it something though? everything we take for granted has a story behind it :) thanks for swinging by…
Kim my Queen :) those are nice .. aren’t they? so nice of you to always take the time to stop by here Kim…I promise to stop by before the nite is over :D tc
[...] regular posting habits over at Interesting Observations. I didn’t realize it, but it was the Smiley faces anniversary Monday. At least the emoticon smiley [...]
[...] Smile, its your anniversary [...]
Great information! Thanks for writing this. It is an honor to participate in the discussion.
No way! How do you put an anniversary on something you type though? haha it must have been documented really well or something.
I use emoticons way too much :P
Smiley faces are probably the most interesting thing I do on MSN and AIM now, and I’m always looking for more to add to MSN.