Thought-Provoking Thursday :)

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Something I have learned about myself recently is that I am a big fan of communication history. It fascinates me, really. I love the story of Thomas Edison dictating what would be said when the phone was answered. Did you know that someone wanted "Ahoy!" to be the phone greeting? What would it be like if we answered the phone by saying, "Who is this?" I am amazed that Thomas Edison's rule stuck and the general population to this day uses the phone how he requested.

Another communication break-through that I love is the emoticon. A couple of years ago my friend shared with me the email that established the emoticon.  I love that Scott Fahlman decided the emoticon was necessary because too many folks were not understanding email humor. Some of the articles I have read lead me to believe that the miscommunicated humor was a real issue in Scott Fahlman's world. Ironically, he does not seem too funny to me. Maybe the articles I have read need to insert some smiley faces.

Here is the famous email.

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One of the most interesting aspects of the emoticon history is the controversy surrounding it. On his website Scott Falhman argues that he independently created the emoticon, despite the fact that variations of emoticons were used centuries before the Internet. The emoticon definitely put Scott Falhman on the map. I was hoping he would list his communication breakthrough on his CV, but unfortunately there is no mention of the emoticon, not even under his "Career Highlights" section. Maybe he could have done his CV section title as "Career Highlights:)" and that would be enough said right there.

With the surge in technology that we have had over the past 20 years, it's crazy to think about all the communication terms and etiquette that have been invented.