Emoticons : -)

An emoticon is a textual portrayal of a writer’s mood or facial expression. Emoticons are often used to alert a responder to the tenor or temper of a statement, and can change and improve interpretation of plain text. The word is a combination of the English words emotion (or emote) and icon. In web forms, instant messages, and online games, text emoticons are often automatically replaced with small corresponding images, which came to be called emoticons as well. Examples of widely known emoticons are the smiley face : ) and the frowny face : (

Early emoticons go as far back to the 1800s and commonly arose when casual or humorous writing was common. The emoticons on the Internet can largely be traced back to a proposal by Scott Fahlman in a message of 19 September 1982.

Fahlman was the first documented person to have used the emoticons : -) and : -(, with a specific suggestion that they be used to express emotion. (www.en.wikipedia.org)