Geeks invented the internet, so it is only fitting that they would also invent the emoticon.


According to an article called “Smiley Lore :-),” the emoticon was invented on a computer bulletin board at Carnegie Mellon on September 19, 1982. Scott E. Fahlman, Research Professor of Computer Science, actually takes credit for bringing the emoticon into “popular” use (although in all fairness he doesn’t denounce the possibility that these symbols had been previously used by other individuals).

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



:-(

CH stands for “Confoederatio Helvetica,” which is Latin for the official name of Switzerland, the Swiss Confederation.

Back in 1848, the Swiss wrote a new constitution and needed to pick an official country name. “To keep everyone happy, the official name for the country was chosen in a neutral language, Latin, using the old Roman name for the country’s people.”¹

¹Why is “CH” the abbreviation for Switzerland?

(Also see Switzerland on Wikipedia.)