A 1982 Joke That Went Viral and Changed the Way We Communicate Online
In a bizarre incident that went viral across the internet, Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott Fahlman inadvertently invented the emoticon
after a joke about mercury was misinterpreted by some of his colleagues. The story began on September 17, 1982, when computer scientist Neil Swartz posted a physics problem to the university's bulletin board system (bboard), which sparked a heated discussion about how to prevent misunderstandings that could lead to "flame wars" online.
After three days of intense debate, Fahlman proposed using and :-( as markers to distinguish jokes from serious comments. However, he didn't just take someone else's idea; instead, he synthesized the best elements from the ongoing discussion, including simplicity, visual clarity, and a complete binary system that covered both humor and seriousness.
Fahlman's solution was key to its adoption because it used standard punctuation marks rearranging the strict grid of the terminal screen into a "picture." The emoticons spread quickly across ARPAnet, the precursor to the modern internet, reaching other universities and research labs. By November 10, 1982, just over two months later, Carnegie Mellon researcher James Morris was introducing the smiley emoticon concept to colleagues at Xerox PARC.
Fast forward to today, and it's clear that Fahlman's invention has become an integral part of online communication. However, the story doesn't end there. Recent discoveries have revealed earlier origins of emojis, which were small pictographic images that could convey emotion, objects, and ideas with more detail.
While Fahlman may not have been "the first person ever to type these three letters in sequence," his proposal at the right time in the right context made all the difference. The smiley face has since become a staple of online communication, often used to express humor or enthusiasm. As for Fahlman himself, he has acknowledged that his contribution was significant but not absolute originality – it's a reminder that even the most seemingly simple ideas can have a profound impact on how we communicate online.
In a bizarre incident that went viral across the internet, Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott Fahlman inadvertently invented the emoticon
after a joke about mercury was misinterpreted by some of his colleagues. The story began on September 17, 1982, when computer scientist Neil Swartz posted a physics problem to the university's bulletin board system (bboard), which sparked a heated discussion about how to prevent misunderstandings that could lead to "flame wars" online.After three days of intense debate, Fahlman proposed using
and :-( as markers to distinguish jokes from serious comments. However, he didn't just take someone else's idea; instead, he synthesized the best elements from the ongoing discussion, including simplicity, visual clarity, and a complete binary system that covered both humor and seriousness.Fahlman's solution was key to its adoption because it used standard punctuation marks rearranging the strict grid of the terminal screen into a "picture." The emoticons spread quickly across ARPAnet, the precursor to the modern internet, reaching other universities and research labs. By November 10, 1982, just over two months later, Carnegie Mellon researcher James Morris was introducing the smiley emoticon concept to colleagues at Xerox PARC.
Fast forward to today, and it's clear that Fahlman's invention has become an integral part of online communication. However, the story doesn't end there. Recent discoveries have revealed earlier origins of emojis, which were small pictographic images that could convey emotion, objects, and ideas with more detail.
While Fahlman may not have been "the first person ever to type these three letters in sequence," his proposal at the right time in the right context made all the difference. The smiley face has since become a staple of online communication, often used to express humor or enthusiasm. As for Fahlman himself, he has acknowledged that his contribution was significant but not absolute originality – it's a reminder that even the most seemingly simple ideas can have a profound impact on how we communicate online.
I'm still surprised that a joke from 1982 is what started this whole emoji thing 
. I mean, who would've thought that a misunderstanding about mercury and a simple emoticon 
It's crazy to think that Scott Fahlman just synthesized some ideas from others and voilà! You get the smiley face 
. I guess you could say he was just trying to tame the wild west of online discussions back in the day 
. Anyway, it's awesome that his invention is still with us today 
. It's a great reminder that even simple ideas can have a big impact 
.
I've seen people use emojis in all sorts of ways now, and its wild to think about how far theyve come since Fahlmans time. Its also interesting to learn about how they originated from earlier pictographic images...anyway, I dont know about anyone else but I feel like we're living in a whole new era of online communication 
all those characters and no way to copy/paste them 
i remember when i first started using emoticons, it was so much easier to just type 
but hey at least its good to know that fahlman's idea was legit 
maybe they should just add a feature to allow copying and pasting of emoticons 
. I guess you could say that Fahlman was like the OG emoticon inventor lol . Anyway, I just thought it was cool how he took all those random ideas and made them work 
. It just goes to show that even the most random conversations on a bulletin board system can lead to something pretty amazing 
.
he didn't just take someone else's credit, he made it his own and it ended up being super influential. and can you believe that people were using these early emoticons like two months after they came out? it's crazy how fast things spread back then.
it changed everything! i mean, who would've thought that a random joke about mercury would lead to the creation of our favorite emojis 
and it's crazy how quickly they spread across the internet back in 1982 
he took all these different ideas and mashed them together into something that just clicked