emoticonned.

[girlpup]

how come you guys have neat little characters expressing your emotions? i find the little smiley face derivatives to be incredibly obnoxious. i need counsel on this matter right away!!! so i just posted a reply on matt's journal, and i'm afraid it sounded bitchy. let me clarify. prior to actually reading the postings on live journal, i was

Comments

a brief history of the emoticon

[silentscavenger]

Between 1981 and 1982 a fellow by the name of Scott Fahlman was involved in conversations on a college BBS. Clearly, I imagine, that this BBS was composed of only the most eliete of geeks, but nonetheless they had back and forth discussions of how to dignify certain posts as jokes, (I'm imagining so the socially inept reader can render when to laugh or not) or conversely when something needs a litte "shade" thrown on it. One individual suggested the & symbol, as the symbol represents a jolly figure with its arms crossed across its belly from laughing so hard. Another, less imaginitive, suggested a simple (*) to tag something as a joke or humor. Another even pictured {#}, because to them it represented a mouth showing teeth. None the less, Scott Fahlman wrote in with his own quip, the ever noticable