The smile appeared four decades ago in an Internet forerunner. In 1982, a US computer scientist first typed “:-)”, an invention that has since cleared up digital misunderstandings.
They replace the tone of voice, facial expressions and gestures in a text message. Smilies or emojis are 40 years old. The combination 🙂 was first typed online on September 19, 1982 at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pennsylvania. In the precursor of the Internet as we know it – in the Arpanet. Computer science professor Scott E. Fahlman made a suggestion on the university’s first digital discussion forum: “I propose this sequence of characters to indicate lines: :-)” he He wrote: “Read it sideways”.
At the time, the community was made up exclusively of nerds with a penchant for sarcasm and weird humor, Fahlman said in an interview with “Frankfurter Rundschau” earlier this year. So there was a lot of published that was supposed to be fun. But there was always someone “who did not understand the intention and responded indignantly. This resulted in verbal battles,” says the computer scientist. To avoid this, it was decided to mark the jokes as such.
The idea went “viral” before “going viral” was a term
He actually just wanted to entertain the few people involved for a short time, he later explained. But apparently she has hit a digital communication nerve. The lying smiley spread from the university via Arpanet – and eventually around the world via the Internet. Fahlmann said: “This idea went viral long before a concept went viral.”
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In today’s text messages, emojis take on other functions besides expressing how you want to be understood. They are used regularly as punctuation marks, explains linguist Erika Linz. For example, if an emoji is typed in place of a period, it “has an expressive meaning”. Plus, the small fonts ensure that communication becomes cheaper, says the linguist. For example: thumbs up instead of a worded answer.
Missing emojis mean seriousness
If no images are used, this can also be taken as a sign that someone is really serious about what has been written. According to Linz, people are aware of the types of messages they use emojis in and which they don’t. Her students recently analyzed how well-known characters use the little symbols on Instagram. As a result, actors provided their posts with emojis far more often than politicians.
So serious just without symbols? Linz states: “I believe that in the long run this will move even further into formal communication. The triumph of emojis cannot be stopped.” However, what cannot be completely stopped even with small signs are misunderstandings. Because not all emojis are completely unique. And people use some of them in different contexts with different intentions. Fahlman’s lying, laughing face commends himself. It is nearly impossible to cause much confusion or serious annoyance with this.
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