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E_laine 1
Is my math wrong? Should this be 30 years? 1982 to 2012
Posted by E_laine on September 19, 2012 at 2:35 PM
mrbarky 2
ಠ_ಠ
Posted by mrbarky on September 19, 2012 at 2:36 PM
You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me 3
:-/
Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on September 19, 2012 at 2:43 PM
Pick1 4
@1 Yay math!
Posted by Pick1 on September 19, 2012 at 2:45 PM
MacCrocodile 5
That's thirty years ago, or I've been drinking illegally for almost a decade.
Posted by MacCrocodile http://maccrocodile.com/ on September 19, 2012 at 2:47 PM
wittyreference 6
In a 1969 interview the author Vladimir Nabokov responded to a question from the New York Times regarding where he saw himself in the pantheon of modern literary writers with the following:

"I often think there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile–some sort of concave mark, a supine round bracket, which I would now like to trace in reply to your question."

Not an invention, but an imagination.
Posted by wittyreference http://monotronix.tumblr.com on September 19, 2012 at 2:49 PM
Sweeney Agonistes 7
Can we bring back Mudede's emoticon set?
Posted by Sweeney Agonistes on September 19, 2012 at 2:51 PM
Cracker Jack 8
o_O
Posted by Cracker Jack on September 19, 2012 at 2:53 PM
9
@7: Sweeney, you just made me day.
Posted by PEM on September 19, 2012 at 2:55 PM
Zebes 10
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Posted by Zebes http://www.badrap.org/rescue/index.html on September 19, 2012 at 3:01 PM
very bad homo 11
:p
Posted by very bad homo on September 19, 2012 at 3:15 PM
dnt trust me 12
6 - that's cool to know, thanks
Posted by dnt trust me on September 19, 2012 at 3:17 PM
13
That's not an etymology, just the first use of the concept.

The word "emoticon" wasn't coined until the late 90s, by some douchebag geek-bandwagon gimmicky author who published a book of them. Large type, one per page. Remember when books were used as excuses for stupid art?

Before that, they were just called "smileys". But every techno-yuppie in the 90s had to give everything a stupid name, even if it already had one.
Posted by K on September 19, 2012 at 3:27 PM
14
@ 13. It's hairsplitting, but I meant this etymology to be of "the emoticon" (as a linguistic form), not not "emoticon" (as a word).
Posted by Brendan Kiley on September 19, 2012 at 3:53 PM
15
Crap. "Not of," not "not not."

I can't do anything right today.
Posted by Brendan Kiley on September 19, 2012 at 3:56 PM
16
@9 Wait, where do you find this Mudede emoticon set? It would make my day too. It was truly hilarious.
Posted by crone on September 19, 2012 at 4:47 PM
17
Brendan, you're not just off by a decade. You could be off by either one hundred or one hundred and twenty years in that estimate, depending on whether or not you believe Abraham Lincoln invented the form in the Gettysburg Address. Yes. Who would have thought the emoticon had such an illustrious, even mythic pedigree? Anyhow, Wikipedia has it all properly cited here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon#…
Posted by Rx on September 19, 2012 at 5:03 PM
Sweeney Agonistes 18
@9: My pleasure. I think about them every couple of months and cackle.

@16: This'n here. http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…
Posted by Sweeney Agonistes on September 19, 2012 at 5:48 PM

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