19/09/2026
Exactly 44 years ago today—on September 19, 1982—the world got its very first digital smiley: :-)
At Carnegie Mellon University, computer scientist Scott Fahlman noticed that messages on the department's bulletin board kept causing arguments. People were making sarcastic jokes, but in plain text, others took them completely seriously.
His suggestion was simple:
Type :-) if you're joking. (He added: "Read it sideways").
And type :-( if you're not.
44 years later, despite high-res video calls, hundreds of emoji packs, and advanced AI, we still face the exact same challenge every day: making sure what we write is received the way we actually intended.
Sometimes the simplest solutions really are the ones that outlive everything else.
Have a wonderful Saturday :-)