How did the smiling face pattern we often use come from?

September this year 19 is the 25th birthday of smiley face symbol:-). Few people know that it was born in the School of Computer Science of Carnegie Mellon University, and its creator, Scott, a professor of language technology and human-computer interaction, is about to celebrate his 60th birthday. Recently, Scott, who is far away in Pittsburgh, USA, accepted our interview.

The symbol string consisting of colon, dash and half-angle bracket makes network communication particularly humanized, and it is probably the most popular symbol on the network. Have you ever wondered who created this wonderful combination?

Smile and pay attention to jokes.

The symbol of Computer College of Carnegie Mellon University is a dragon, but it has almost become a cow. On one occasion, the dean suggested that dragons are dangerous and destructive in western mythology, so it is better to replace them with cows. Friendly cows can produce milk without hurting people! Scott replied: "Don't forget, cows are also machines that make feces;" Their eyes are so far apart that their eyes are furtive. Who wants researchers to be like cows? "

Scott's joke was adopted by the dean. Humor not only brought him a good mood, but also made him create the most popular smiling face expression on the Internet.

Time goes back to 1982. At that time, the bulletin board system of Carnegie University (equivalent to today's online forum) was a new tool for people to exchange information. Teachers and students often discuss academic issues and post notices of finding things or parties. However, Scott found that sometimes professors and scholars can't see humor when they say something interesting in the forum. The seriousness of their argument often drowns out an interesting post.

He recalled to us the scene 25 years ago: at that time, several people posted to each other. Someone had a brain teaser. "There is a candle in the elevator and a drop of silver on the ground. Suddenly the cable broke and the elevator fell. What happened between mercury and candles? " The latecomers jokingly fabricated a notice: "Attention! * * The elevator was polluted by mercury and there was a slight fire. The clean-up work is expected to end at 8 o'clock on Friday. "

Suddenly a physicist appeared on the forum. He solemnly said, "When I was in high school, the school closed the laboratory because of mercury leakage ..." A few words brought this interesting "nonsense" to an abrupt end. So we discuss, add a #, * or&; Such a symbol, lest someone take it seriously.

Scott said, "I was sitting in my office, staring at the keyboard scanning characters, but I didn't find anything interesting." So I thought maybe I could make a smiling face with a few words. I put the colon, dash and left parenthesis together and looked at it with my head tilted, just like a smiling face:-). Change it to a right bracket, just like a frowning person:-(. I suggest you put this symbol in the message as a hint of a joke. This symbol spread in the forum the next day. "

It will be twenty years before I get my birthright.

Scott never imagined that his unintentional thoughts would have such a far-reaching impact. So when he found that everyone around him was using the symbol:-), he came up with the idea of looking for information about that year-because almost no one except his good friends knew that this symbol was related to him.

"Unfortunately, when I decided to look for this information, it was too late. The backup disk is long gone, let alone the computer used to read it. " After trying twice, Scott decided to give up.

Twenty years after the smiley face symbol appeared, Mack jones, a Microsoft employee and a graduate of Carnegie University, spent half a year, using several school employees and students to "dig" the smiley face symbol from the old equipment:1September, 982 1 1: 44 noon, this is Scott.

Scott's invention was finally proved. More and more people are keen to innovate all kinds of smiley face symbols: smiling, wearing glasses, wearing a hat, laughing, using the nose, blinking ... Smiling face has become a universal symbol of the Internet, and it has also changed from simple punctuation to expressions in various chat software, derived into pictures, and even entered mobile phone text messages. But Scott never got a penny for his clever creation.

Dialogue Scott: I never dreamed that smiling faces would be popular.

Reporter: What do you do when others can't understand your humor?

Scott (hereinafter referred to as "Alice"): Sometimes my friends are not sure if I am joking. I think this is the beauty of humor. When I write professional materials, I always tell some funny examples to illustrate what I mean. But I think it's a joke. Your readers may find it boring.

Reporter: How did you feel when you first discovered that this symbol became popular?

S: This smile spreads slowly, but it is stable. In the 1990s, after the birth of the Internet, it became popular. I never dreamed that it would go beyond the scope of our school. Now, every step of its development surprises me. We plan to hold a large-scale commemorative party for its 25th anniversary this year.

Reporter: Why bother to find evidence to prove that you invented it?

S: This is not an important historical moment, but many people will think, who came up with this thing? I know I'm the first, but it needs to be proved. So I am very grateful to my colleagues at Carnegie University who are doing "data archaeology".

Reporter: Do you use this smiley face symbol yourself?

S: Of course, I use it many times every day! A symbol of blinking and smiling; -) and stick out your tongue: -P, I often use it, too. But these two were created by others.

Reporter: Has this symbol brought any changes to your life?

S: Actually, it doesn't matter. It's just that I'm famous for it, and occasionally I get interviews from the media, even from distant China! My friends think I'm great.

Reporter: All kinds of network symbols are very popular now. In China, some people think that network symbols will affect the inheritance and development of language. what do you think?

S: China has a profound culture. Small symbols can't threaten it. It will only make the language richer and more vivid, which is not a bad thing. But what is worrying is that the world is full of voice messages and voice chats, and perhaps the written language will die out. I hope I will never see such a thing in my lifetime.

Reporter: Tell me about your life?

My wife and I have been married for 37 years. She is now a kindergarten teacher who specializes in teaching 3-year-old children. We have no children, but we have a cat. He always thinks he is a human being and the overlord of our family. My childhood dream was to be an astronaut. When I was in high school, I found that astronauts could only float like suitcases after entering space, and the computer really controlled the spaceship! So I chose my present major. I have a graduate student with me now, and I don't give many lectures. I am so busy all day that I have no hobbies, only time to cook, travel, take photos and write funny jokes ... but I really love my job, and I really hope I will never retire.