:-) or :-( are getting old

Did you know that emoticons were actually invented before Mark was born? Their invention was precisely at 11:44am on 19 September 1982. Professor Scott Fahlman, of Carnegie Mellon University in the USA had been troubled by how jokes posted on the unviversity bulletin board could be misunderstood and being a scholarly type he wanted to find a solution. so he sent out an email that said "I propose the following character sequence for joke markers: :-) Read it sideways."

Like all things over 30 years these have evolved - some would say not for the better