25th Anniversary of the Emoticon

While everyone else is celebrating International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I'm here to spread the magnificent news that today is the 25th anniversary of the emoticon. You know, this guy :-)

This entry is being posted to my blog at the precise moment that the emoticon was born 25 years ago. Often referred to as a smiley, the ASCII emoticon's "creation" is attributed to Scott Fahlman, who made this post to the Carnegie Mellon computer science discussion board:

19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman :-)
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

:-(

And so the emoticon was born. Check out the Emoticon entry on Wikipedia for more fascinating facts on the emoticon.

In the early days of my career I felt that using emoticons in any work-related email was unequivocally unprofessional. However, over the past few years I've started using them extensively, especially in communicating with fellow staff. I find that it takes the edge off of emails that might be interpreted in a way other than what I intended. Digital communication is notorious for stripping the context and nuance out of conversation, and a smiley can give the reader at least a small indicator of your mood or the demeanor of your email.

What's your take?

Anyway, happy 25th birthday, ASCII emoticon! Now you can rent a car.

And just for talk like a pirate day, here's a pirate joke...

What's a pirate's favorite letter? Arrrr!
What's a pirate's golf score? Parrrr!
What's a pirate's favorite place to drink? A barrrrr!
What does a pirate drive? No! Not a carrrr, a boat!

:-D

Tagged: Association Management Associations CAE Certified Association Executive emoticon smiley talk like a pirate day