emoticon

emoticon
    n 1: a representation of a facial expression (as a smile or
         frown) created by typing a sequence of characters in
         sending email; ":-( and :-) are emoticons"
    

emoticon
 /ee.moh'ti.kon/, n.

   [common] An ASCII glyph used to indicate an emotional state in email
   or news. Although originally intended mostly as jokes, emoticons (or
   some other explicit humor indication) are virtually required under
   certain circumstances in high-volume text-only communication forums
   such as Usenet; the lack of verbal and visual cues can otherwise cause
   what were intended to be humorous, sarcastic, ironic, or otherwise
   non-100%-serious comments to be badly misinterpreted (not always even
   by {newbie}s), resulting in arguments and {flame war}s.

   Hundreds of emoticons have been proposed, but only a few are in common
   use. These include:

:-) `smiley face' (for humor, laughter, friendliness, occasionally
    sarcasm)
:-( `frowney face' (for sadness, anger, or upset)
   ;-) `half-smiley' ( {ha ha only serious}); also known as semi-smiley
    or winkey face.
:-/ `wry face'

   (These may become more comprehensible if you tilt your head sideways,
   to the left.) The first two listed are by far the most frequently
   encountered. Hyphenless forms of them are common on CompuServe, GEnie,
   and BIX; see also {bixie}. On {Usenet}, smiley is often used as a
   generic term synonymous with {emoticon}, as well as specifically for
   the happy-face emoticon.

   The invention of the original smiley and frowney emoticons is
   generally credited to Scott Fahlman at CMU in 1982. He later wrote: "I
   wish I had saved the original post, or at least recorded the date for
   posterity, but I had no idea that I was starting something that would
   soon pollute all the world's communication channels." In September
   2002 the original post was recovered.

   There is a rival claim by one Kevin McKenzie, who seems to have
   proposed the smiley on the MsgGroup mailing list, April 12 1979. It
   seems likely these two inventions were independent. Users of the PLATO
   educational system report using emoticons composed from overlaid
   dot-matrix graphics in the 1970s.

   Note for the {newbie}: Overuse of the smiley is a mark of loserhood!
   More than one per paragraph is a fairly sure sign that you've gone
   over the line.
    

emoticon
:-)
smiley
smilies

   <chat> /ee-moh'ti-kon/ An {ASCII} {glyph} used to indicate an
   emotional state in {electronic mail} or {news}.  Although
   originally intended mostly as jokes, emoticons (or some other
   explicit humour indication) are virtually required under
   certain circumstances in high-volume text-only communication
   forums such as {Usenet}; the lack of verbal and visual cues
   can otherwise cause what were intended to be humorous,
   sarcastic, ironic, or otherwise non-100%-serious comments to
   be badly misinterpreted (not always even by {newbies}),
   resulting in arguments and {flame wars}.

   Hundreds of emoticons have been proposed, but only a few are
   in common use.  These include:

    :-)	"smiley face" (for humour, laughter,
   	friendliness, occasionally sarcasm)

    :-(	"frowney face" (for sadness, anger, or upset)

    ;-)	"half-smiley" (ha ha only serious); also
   	known as "semi-smiley" or "winkey face".

    :-/	"wry face"

   These may become more comprehensible if you tilt your head
   sideways, to the left.  The first two are by far the most
   frequently encountered.  Hyphenless forms of them are common
   on {CompuServe}, {GEnie}, and {BIX}; see also {bixie}.  On
   {Usenet}, "smiley" is often used as a generic term synonymous
   with emoticon, as well as specifically for the happy-face
   emoticon.

   The emoticon was invented by one Scott Fahlman on the {CMU}
   {bboard} systems on 1982-09-19.  He later wrote: "I wish I had
   saved the original post, or at least recorded the date for
   posterity, but I had no idea that I was starting something
   that would soon pollute all the world's communication
   channels."  {GLS} confirms that he remembers this original
   posting, which has subsequently been retrieved from a backup
   (http://research.microsoft.com/~mbj/Smiley/BBoard_Contents.html).

   As with exclamation marks, overuse of the smiley is a mark of
   loserhood!  More than one per paragraph is a fairly sure sign
   that you've gone over the line.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (2006-07-12)