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Re: Emoticon for irony--OT?



Awesome and informative post, Gary.......thanks. I'm forwarding it!

rick walker

On 7/22/64 11:59 AM, Clayton Gary Lehmann wrote:

I found this page:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002/sep/19/netnotes

with this text—interesting stuff . . .

1. Twenty years ago today a computer scientist from the Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA namedScott Fahlman <http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/%7Esef/> first suggested the use of asmiley, or emoticon <http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,400686,00.html>, as a way of expressing sarcasm of irony in emails to the humourously challenged. ;-)

2. Fahlman's September 19 1982message <http://research.microsoft.com/%7Embj/Smiley/Smiley.html> posted on a university message board has gone down in internet folklore as the year zero of smiley language. :-)

3. Fahlman explains the origins of the emoticon in his smiley lore <http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/%7Esef/sefSmiley.htm>. The emoticon has become so popular that an Emoticon News Bureau <http://govschl.ndsu.nodak.edu/%7Ejodchris/luce/emoticons.html> has been created to monitor events in the world of the smiley. :~/

4. Yet despite this momentous invention, Fahlman has never made a penny from it <http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/apr2001/nf20010423_785.htm>. He did not realise what a popular new language he had invented on that September day, he never thought to patent it or even to keep a record of the day himself. :-(

5. However, a debate has arisen over whether Fahlman is the true inventor of the smiley. According to the Internet Tip's brief history of the smiley <http://www.internet-tips.net/Emoticons/>, a man called Kevin MacKenzie sent the first smiley in an email on April 12 1979. His emoticon was the symbol -) meaning "tongue in cheek". 8-]

6. No matter who invented it, the Hacker's Dictionary <http://www.drbbs.com/jsw/jargon/jargon_20.html> describes the emoticon as a vital way to prevent misunderstandings between hackers that could lead to arguments and flame wars <http://www.drbbs.com/jsw/jargon/jargon_21.html#TAG706>! :-0

7. Smileys have evolved so far that they are now used in everyday internet conversations <http://flamebyrd.digitalrice.com/quotes/smiley.html> along with other abbreviations such as lol and brb. The Newbie Profile <%20http://tgos.org/newbie/reading5.html> provides a useful, if somewhat confusing guide to using smileys in messages. 8~/