Собственно, сабж.
On 19 September 1982 Scott Fahlman posts the first documented emoticons :-) and :-( on the Carnegie Mellon University Bulletin Board System.
19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman :-)
From: Scott E Fahlman
I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers: :-)
Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use :-(