emoticons

Emoticons say it all! They are the new universal language! And they go on to prove that a picture is equal to a thousand words!
Human communication depends not only on the verbal language used, but also the body language, especially facial expressions that change with every emotion. The eyes, and the lips are the two most effective organs when it comes to communicating a complex range of emotions.

An Emoticon (emotion + icon) is a graphic that builds on this idea! From happiness to sadness, from embarassment to gratitude, there is always a combination of dots and lines, that could convey the emotion.

The first use of emoticons can be tracked back to the 19th century, while the first digital form was introduced on the net by Scott Fahlman in a message. The text of his original message posted on the Carnegie Mellon University board goes thus:

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

From: Scott E  Fahlman <Fahlman at Cmu-20c>

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

:-(

Other notable computer scientists who participated in this thread include David Touretzky, Guy Steele, and Jaime Carbonell.

This was followed by the use of Japanese 'kaomoji' that could be understood without tilting one's head. Byte Information Exchange (BIX) used similar looking icons around the same time.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon

Today, we cant imagine how bland our digital communication would be without them.