# Digital 'Smiley Face' :-) Turns 25

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-smiley-face-turns-25/419671>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 18, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-smiley-face-turns-25/419671 "2007-09-18T22:57:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Linty\_McGinty\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cc9497/32.png) [@Linty\_McGinty\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_McGinty_McGee)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-smiley-face-turns-25/419671/1 "2007-09-18T22:57:14Z")

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“It was a serious contribution to the electronic lexicon. 🙂 Twenty-five years ago, Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman says, he was the first to use three keystrokes \_ a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis \_ as a horizontal ‘smiley face’ in a computer message.”

Just thought you’d want to know.