Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by ZeljkoS on Friday September 23, 2016 @08:02AM (#12563910)

Interesting thing to note is that before Fahlman suggested ":-)" symbol, Leonard Hamey suggested "{#}" (see 17-Sep-82 17:42 post). After that, someone suggested "\__/" (see 20-Sep-82 17:56 post). But only ":-)" gained popularity.

It is funny to imagine how emoticons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emoticons) would look today if one of alternative symbols was accepted?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by lucaslazaro on Friday September 23, 2016 @09:16AM (#12564313)

Not only # \__/ and :-) were suggested but also '&', which the explanation on why is (to say at least) imaginative:

17-Sep-82 17:40 Keith Wright at CMU-10A *%&#$ Jokes! No, no, no! Surely everyone will agree that "&" is the funniest character on the keyboard. It looks funny (like a jolly fat man in convulsions of laughter). It sounds funny (say it loud and fast three times). I just know if I could get my nose into the vacuum of the CRT it would even smell funny!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by nathancahill on Friday September 23, 2016 @08:41AM (#12564094)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by tetraodonpuffer on Friday September 23, 2016 @08:53AM (#12564167)

would be interesting to know where that one started...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by wodenokoto on Friday September 23, 2016 @09:22AM (#12564349)

There is a whole parallel smiley history from Asia that either hasn't been documented as well as the western smileys or simply hasn't been translated.

The notable thing about asian smileys is that they have the same horizon as the text, whereas western smileys needs to be turned 90 degrees. Compare (^.^) with :-)

So given that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ is both unicode and horizontal indicates that it is either from Asia or came to be after asian smileys became more prevalent in the west.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by josefx on Friday September 23, 2016 @10:26AM (#12564842)

> compare (^.^) with :-)

I have no mouth and I must smile

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by Ntrails on Friday September 23, 2016 @09:36AM (#12564465)

I done screwed up. I hope nobody saw...

>_>

<_<

>_<

(I always felt like finding some of these alt smilies increased expressiveness)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by shmageggy on Friday September 23, 2016 @10:23AM (#12564816)

Interesting that Japanese smileys show emotion via the eyes while the American-born ones show emotion via the mouth, which mirrors the respective cultural norms.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by err4nt on Friday September 23, 2016 @10:04AM (#12564676)

m =^_^= m

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by happy-go-lucky on Friday September 23, 2016 @09:57AM (#12564628)

TIL it's a kaomoji :-)

Here's an article by a regular user of the emoticon http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/05/the-be...

And a wiki about those characters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by TorKlingberg on Friday September 23, 2016 @09:49AM (#12564563)

Probably Japan. ツ is a very common Japanese charterer pronounced "tsu".

As wodenokoto said there is a whole separate history of Asian smileys that are right way up, with the face in the middle and various decorations on both sides. They did have the advantage of a larger set of characters from the start.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by jcl on Friday September 23, 2016 @04:52PM (#12567863)

One example predating computers is "henohenomoheji", a face made out of Japanese hiragana, used as a generic face in children's art and crafts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henohenomoheji

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by iSnow on Friday September 23, 2016 @11:25AM (#12565287)

I am guessing, but I'd suspect one of the better known imageboards like 2Chan, 4Chan or Ylilauta.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by retox on Friday September 23, 2016 @12:36PM (#12565892)

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by jgw on Friday September 23, 2016 @09:26AM (#12564376)

Of course, Fahlman is a Lisper, so of course he's going to use parens... ;)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by gberger on Friday September 23, 2016 @09:33AM (#12564438)

I don't understand "{#}" and "\__/". Are they supposed to be arbitrary markers, or interpreted in some way?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by c0achmcguirk on Friday September 23, 2016 @09:45AM (#12564521)

"{#}" was proposed because it looks like teeth showing. "\_/" was proposed because it looks like a smile.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by david-given on Friday September 23, 2016 @01:50PM (#12566552)

I'm trying to visualise the first one, but the only thing which comes to mind is Jaws from the old James Bond films.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/jamesbond/images/8/86/Ja...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by mfoy_ on Friday September 23, 2016 @09:48AM (#12564546)

That's why they didn't catch on.... not very intuitive.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by paler on Friday September 23, 2016 @09:38AM (#12564481)

{#} would be a grinning mouth with teeth showing, and \__/ is a smiling mouth.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by Qiasfah on Friday September 23, 2016 @11:26AM (#12565302)

Interestingly, I've seen \_/ used these days to refer to a dumpster.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by gberger on Friday September 23, 2016 @11:40AM (#12565428)

I've seen \,,/ to refer to the "rock" hand gesture.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by kuschku on Friday September 23, 2016 @12:42PM (#12565947)

And \\//, to refer to LLAP

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by Grangar on Friday September 23, 2016 @09:43AM (#12564509)

The second one could be interpreted as a smiling mouth.

I think.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by anewhnaccount on Friday September 23, 2016 @08:26AM (#12564021)

I guess they might look a bit like the ones at the bottom under "Eastern".

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by leereeves on Friday September 23, 2016 @09:33AM (#12564441)

Perhaps {#} would have evolved into Japanese-style emoticons like: (-_-) and (^.^)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by mfoy_ on Friday September 23, 2016 @09:49AM (#12564557)

If only we had a upside down '^' character, smaller than a 'v' though.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Original bulletin board thread in which ‘:-)’ was proposed by yorwba on Friday September 23, 2016 @10:13AM (#12564754)

You mean like ⌣ U+2323?

[ Parent | on HN ]