Did you know we just missed the 25th birthday of the smiley face? You know, the colon, hyphen, right parenthesis combo that is used all over the world? The smiley face was apparently born on the 19th of September, 1982… and this guy claims to be the creator of the smiley face.
I mean, he\’s got a good claim that back in 1982 he wrote on a message board \”I propose the following character sequence for joke markers: :-)\”. But you\’re trying to tell me that no one before that time using a freakin\’ typewriter had never done that? Really?
While he admits it\’s possible that someone else may have invented the smiley face, his hubris still shines through: \”I\’ve never seen any hard evidence that the 🙂 sequence was in use before my original post, and I\’ve never run into anyone who actually claims to have invented it before I did.\”
On the other hand, let the baby have his bottle. For all of the good deeds he may have done in his life, he\’ll now be forever known as the smiley face guy. IMHO, he can have it.
(How long before someone comes out of the woodwork to claim IMHO and LOL as their creation?)
Let me then state for the record, that I created the Sarcasm Index (aka Sarcasm Quotient) in 1993 as a student at St. Olaf College. The Sarcasm Index is a 10 point scale that is put after sentences that need clarity in email or any written work when the intent could be in doubt. Ex: I was so excited to see my ex-girlfriend. If you were serious, you would use a low sarcasm rating of (1.3) or (0.9). However, if you meant for that sentence to be very sarcastic you would put (9.9) or even (11.0) — extreme sarcasm.
So all of these people need to give me props… and perhaps some royalties… 🙂 *damn*
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