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In 1982, a physics joke gone wrong sparked the invention of the emoticon - Ars Technica

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Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨otters_raft@lemmy.ca [bot]⁩ to ⁨technology@beehaw.org⁩

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/in-1982-a-physics-joke-gone-wrong-sparked-the-invention-of-the-emoticon/

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  • irotsoma@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I wouldn’t say invention of the emoticon since it already existed since typewriter days in the same exact form and in print and writing for at least hundreds of years. Maybe the first recorded attempt to create a specific purpose for it on a computer system. But that seems pretty flimsy as an “invention”. But given the state of the patent system, just about everything I’m technology is an invention these days despite how long it has existed or how obvious it was.

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    • m0darn@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      FWIW Abraham Lincoln typed

      :)

      but it was an accident

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    • bryndos@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      This ones not too bad, it's not strictly a smiley though.
      https://www.codeoftheancients.com/glyphlibrary/glyph/U406

      When you look under 'happy' they mostly seem to link to concepts of ripening, harvest, blooming and sweet things.
      https://www.codeoftheancients.com/dictionary/egyptian/term/happy

      Seems like they also could spell it out sometimes with multiple characters, which sort of surprises me.

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  • smeg@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    “After all, when using text-based online communication, we lack the body language or tone-of-voice cues that convey this information when we talk in person or on the phone.”

    This quote is from 1982 and yet we all still fall into the same trap today

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    • RickRussell_CA@beehaw.org ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      _/

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    • realitista@lemmus.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      🤷

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