Digital 'Smiley Face' Turns 25

September 18, 2007 By DANIEL LOVERING, Associated Press Writer Digital 'Smiley Face' Turns 25 (AP)

Carnegie Mellon professor Scott E. Fahlman is shown in his home office on Monday, Sept. 17, 2007, in Pittsburgh. Twenty-five years ago, three keystrokes -- a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis -- were first used as a horizontal "smiley face" in a computer message by Fahlman, the university said. Fahlman posted the emoticon in a message to an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

(AP) -- It was a serious contribution to the electronic lexicon. :-)

Content from The Associated Press expires 15 days after original publication date. For more information about The Associated Press, please visit www.ap.org .

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