:-)
The horizontal smiley face, created by combining a colon, a dash and a closing bracket, is 25 years old today!
Scott Fahlman, research professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, created the emoticon at 11:44am on 19 September 1982.
"Yes, I am the inventor of the sideways 'smiley face' (sometimes called an 'emoticon') that is commonly used in email, chat and newsgroup posts. Or at least I'm one of the inventors," Fahlman said on the Carnegie Mellon website.
The professor claims that the idea came to him because humorous comments posted on the university's bulletin boards were often misinterpreted.
Carnegie Mellon professor Scott E. Fahlman was the first to use the :-) in a computer message.
09/019/02007 11:38 PM
