Emoticons

Happy 30^th Birthday Emoticon :-)

You're a jerk :) 

You're a jerk.

I'm sorry I can't go tonight :(

I'm sorry I can't go tonight.

Got any plans tonight ;) 

Got any plans tonight?

Good night :*

Good night

Love them or hate them those little emoticons (emotion icons) pack a powerful punch in the world of electronic messages. Can you believe that the emoticon just turned 30-years-old? Do you remember the first time you saw an emoticon? I’m not even sure I knew what the name was until a couple of years ago.  I just thought of them as “sideways smiles.” They are so ingrained in me I even used a "sideways smile" in a birthday card I sent to a friend recently...that was hand written!  She got a big kick out of that! 

Harvey Ball's Smiley Face

Did you know that the yellow smiley face is thought to have spurred the emoticon movement? The “smiley face” was created by freelance artist Harvey Ball as a way to boost morale in an insurance company.  It was a huge success! However, Scott Fahlman is the first documented person to use the emoticon :-) and :-(.  A smiley emoticon was to mean “a joke” and a sad emoticon was to mean “no joke.” He felt it would help people understand sarcasm better in electronic messages.

An emoticon’s presence sets the mood of a written message.  So much of our communication is non-verbal.  Emoticons allow us to set the temperament, emotion and feeling of a written message, and do it quickly. In the 1990’s, AOL’s instant messenger launched an emoticon platform with 12 emoticons and with it digital sarcasm was launched.   A phrase I hear often is, "I need a sarcasm font." Well, these little guys are just that!

Sarcasm Font at its best!

Today, emoticons can be written in a variety ways, and we have even found short-hand emoticons by omitting the hyphen that is intended to be the nose.  Sometimes, you see an equal sign instead of a colon =).  Sometimes it goes the other direction (=. There are as many emoticons as there are human emotions.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they are here to stay.  You know what else is handy about those emoticons?  You can say almost anything and get away with it if you end it with the right emoticon ;-)