The "smiley face" has since become a staple of online communication, allowing 12-year-old girls and corporate lawyers alike to punctuate their messages with a quick symbol that says, "hey, I'm only joking."

Fahlman's innovation has since inspired countless other "emoticons" like ;-) to signify a wink or :-0 to show surprise.

"I've certainly spent 10 times as much time talking with people about it as I did coming up with it in the first place," F

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_http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/09/19/offbeat.smiley.reut/index.html