We ❤️Emoji

<p>The first ever emoji set, including the earliest incarnations of 🍷, ❤️, and 💩, was released in Japan on 1st November, 1997. But the only users could send and receive them were owners of a now-forgotten ‘SkyWalker’ handset made by J-Phone. ☹️</p><p>Emoji didn’t truly transform written communication in the West until some fourteen years later, when emoji keyboards came by default on iPhone (Android users, incredibly, had to wait until 2013 🤯).</p><br><p>In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss how unloved 1990s font Wingdings paved the way for graphical communication; ponder whether emojis can be used in legal contracts; and reveal how an obscure internal bulletin board at a University helped to create the smiley, and its opposite, ‘the frowny’... </p><br><p><em>There are NINE MINUTES more of emoji-based bantz available exclusively to our Patreon subscribers*. What was the OED's Word of the Year, 2015? What are our team's most-used emojis? And does</em><a href="https://stayhipp.com/glossary/%f0%9f%99%8f-high-five-or-prayer-hands-emoji-%f0%9f%99%8f/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em> 🙏</em></a><em> represent high-fives, or prayers? Find out now at </em><a href="https://patreon.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>https://patreon.com/Retrospectors</em></a><em> (*top two tiers).</em></p><br><p><strong>Further Reading:</strong></p><p>• ‘Correcting the Record on the First Emoji Set’ (emojipedia, 2019): <a href="https://blog.emojipedia.org/correcting-the-record-on-the-first-emoji-set/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://blog.emojipedia.org/correcting-the-record-on-the-first-emoji-set/</a></p><p>• ‘History of Emoticons and Emoji’ (ThoughtCo, 2019): <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/emoticons-and-emoji-1991412" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.thoughtco.com/emoticons-and-emoji-1991412</a></p><p>• ‘A Brief History of Emoji’(The Open University, 2017): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tTXLuZHYf4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tTXLuZHYf4</a></p><br><p><strong>For bonus material and to support the show, visit</strong><a href="https://create.acast.com/episodes/ca1f94a1-0921-446a-ae00-4d4bfd2ba3ef/Patreon.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong> </strong></a><a href="http://patreon.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Patreon.com/Retrospectors</strong></a></p><p><strong>We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:</strong><a href="https://create.acast.com/episodes/ca1f94a1-0921-446a-ae00-4d4bfd2ba3ef/podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong> </strong></a><a href="http://podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>podfollow.com/Retrospectors</strong></a></p><br><p><em>The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.</em></p><p><em>Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.</em></p><p><em>Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.</em></p><br><p><em>#90s #Technology #Inventions #Japan</em></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

Today In History with The Retrospectors