From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A smiley is a graphic representation of a smiling human face, mostly coloured yellow.
The smiley face, a yellow button with a smile and two dots representing eyes was invented by Harvey Ball in 1963 for Worcester, Massachusetts based insurance firm State Mutual Life Assurance. Though there was an attempt to trademark the image, it fell into the public domain before that could be accomplished.
The graphic was popularized in the early 1970s by a pair of brothers, Murray and Bernard Spain, who seized upon it in a campaign to sell novelty items. The two produced buttons as well as coffee mugs, t-shirts, bumper stickers and many other items emblazoned with the symbol and the phrase "Have a happy day" (devised by Murray). By 1972 there were an estimated 50 million happy face buttons throughout the U.S., at which point the fad began to subside.
The symbol has been satirized with a smile and three dots (a mutant), and has been reborn as the image of the Microsoft Bob software and Walmart's price cutting ads.
The first known recorded instance of an ASCII smiley occurred on September 19, 1982 on an online bulletin board, when Scott Fahlman, a researcher at IBM, suggested the emoticon after an online joke caused a false alarm and a discussion ensued in response, about the need for markers for humorous comments. (Other suggestions included +, %, &, (#) and --/.)
Some basic examples:
In Japan, smilies are read vertically as opposed to the horizontally read smilies of the west, the most common one being (^_^) . They sometimes contain visual imagery that is common is Japanese manga and anime.
Some basic Japanese smilies:
The smiley was one of the main icons adopted by the dance music culture that emerged in the early 1990s. Especially in the UK, the logo was especially associated in the dance culture underground with the drug Ecstasy.
Luke Helder, midwestern pipe-bomber in May 2002 tried to replicate a smiley face in his pattern of pipe bombs. His first 16 bombs formed circles, the first in Nebraska and the second on the border between Illinois and Iowa. Those bombs completed the eyes. Two other bombs in Texas and Colorado were apparently the beginnings of the smile. However, he was captured before he completed the smile itself.
Invention
Smileys on the Internet
In the context of the Internet, "smiley" sometimes means the same as "emoticon" (a short string of characters representing a human face) but more frequently means an emoticon that represents a smiling human face. Smileys are usually used in email messages or in chat. To more easily recognise them, put your head on your left shoulder. :-) is a smile
;-) is winking
:'-( is crying
:-9 is whistling
B-) or 8-) has (sun)glasses
@@@@@@@:-) Marge Simpson
:D or :> Open mouthed smiley
:-O Surprised smiley
:P Smiley with tongue
:@ Angry smiley
:S Confused smiley
:$ Embarassed Smiley
8-| Nerd smiley
^o) Sarcastic smiley
*-) Thinking Smiley
:-x Don't tell anyone smiley
Although inventing, describing, and tabulating various ingenious kinds of smiley has become something of a game, in reality only the :-) form and very basic variants on it are widely used and understood. Others are introduced as jocular novelties. Usually, they are explained when they are used (e.g. "Wink wink ;-)"), or are put forward as a conversational ploy in hopes that the reader will ask what it means and give the writer the opportunity of offering the explanation. ^_^ Basic smilie (Japanese symbol)
;_; Crying smilie (Japanese symbol)
*^_^* Cute little girl / Blushing smilie (Japanese symbol)
^_^;;; Embarassed smilie; cold sweat (Japanese symbol)
(^o^) User is joyously singing (sideways)
(-.-)Zzz... Sleeping (sideways)
(^.^)/ User is waving hello (sideways, Japanese style)
There are a lot of possibilities, people are very good at interpreting pictures as smiles.Smileys in Club Culture
Smiley Bomber
Smileys in Cinematography
Smileys in Video Games
Other Smileys
External Links
