Emoticons, The Story

The original emoticon or “smiley face” :-) was invented on September 19, 1982 by Scott E. Fahlman, Research Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University SCS. While a student at CMU, Fahlman noticed a problem on the CMU online bulletin board: often people would post a humorous comment, but others would not understand the joke or reference. This led to countless flames and meaningless discussions.

In a message posted on the CMU online bulletin board system, Fahlman is quoted as saying "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 :-(."

SCS	School of Computer Science
CMU	Carnegie Mellon University.
Bboard	Online bulletin board system; this board was similar in concept to today's newsgroups or message boards, and was intended as a place for people to chat and have discussions.
Flame	A remark which characterizes a person negatively or in direct contrast to their posted words or online actions; a flame is intended to insult and provoke.

Original Bboard Thread in which :-) was proposed; Posted by Scott Fahlman on 19 September, 1982

Scott E. Fahlman, Research Professor of CS at CMU

Smiley Lore :-)


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