| Emoticon is really an abbreviation for emotion icon. | | | | take 20 years for Jeff Baird to find a backup of the |
| Emoticons are representations, either typed or | | | | posts. Today, his claim is generally regarded at gospel. |
| graphical, that express a particular mood or emotion. | | | | The yellow graphical smiley became popular in the |
| They are usually put after a particular sentence to | | | | early 1970s as brothers Murray and Bernard Spain |
| convey an emotion, not only happy or sad but | | | | seized upon the graphic and popularized it by putting |
| confused, startled, puzzled or angry. Typically these | | | | in on buttons, coffee mugs, t-shirts and bumper |
| emoticons are used in programs such as Microsoft or | | | | stickers. Starting in the 1980s, small smiley emoticons |
| Yahoo Messenger, blogs, forums, e-mails, social | | | | were included in Windows wingding font tables. |
| networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook and | | | | Today, you can find colorful line-ups of emoticons in |
| in many other internet communications. | | | | Internet Messaging software and in dedicated web |
| Writers have been trying to express emotion from | | | | sites that categorize many hundreds of these rascals. |
| the written word for eons. As man evolved from | | | | These symbols can represent other objects or |
| caves to buildings, these basic symbols evolved into | | | | subjects, not just emotions. A few popular |
| complex creations of art.In the post Anglo-Saxon | | | | categories are animals, clowns, people, text, |
| period, the question mark and exclamation point have | | | | trademarks and more. Popular sub-categories are |
| been two accepted "emoticons" to infuse a sentence | | | | winking eyes called "winks," animated emoticons and |
| with an expressed sentiment. In the modern age, | | | | even 3D animated objects. Emoticons are fun to look |
| some credit Kevin Mackensie in 1979 for using -) | | | | at and very useful in spicing up otherwise routine |
| denoting a tongue-in-cheek expression. But it was | | | | correspondence. |
| Scott E. Fahlman who is credited with popularizing the | | | | One word of caution, emoticons are most effective |
| first generation emoticon, the famous smiley. In 1982 | | | | if used in moderation. Overused they lose their |
| on the CMU bulletin system, he posited the use of :-) | | | | impact. Most discouraged is answering a post with |
| for a smile and :-( for a frown. Otherwise, he said, | | | | simply an emoticon. This is considered bad etiquette |
| readers would not know if a statement was meant | | | | and can be seen as a form of spam. Use your |
| seriously or in jest. This system spread like wildfire | | | | creativity to use the perfect emoticon at the right |
| through the internet world and is still used today. | | | | moment. |
| Unfortunately, Fahlman didn't save his posts. It would | | | | |