Emojis History

Emoji as we know them today, however, got their start in Japan. In fact, the word "emoji" can be translated to "image character." Emoji were officially invented in the 1990s, thanks to a man named Shigetaka Kurita and the company he worked for, Docomo. Emoji have certainly made a lot of progress in recent years, with fresher appearances and greater variety; but originally, where did emoji come from? In a rather entertaining new video, Mental Floss' Big Questions series explains the history of the emoji and how they came to be. Let's take a look at a few of the highlights, shall we? And scroll down to watch the full video, of course it's as amusing as it is enlightening.The start of emoji, however, was much more humble. People weren't texting each other pictures of paw prints and salsa dancers and flexing arms; in fact, it all began with something simple and seemingly boring to some: Punctuation.It all started with emoticons facial expressions made out of punctuation which made their first appearance in an issue of an 1881 magazine. You heard me: 1881.Emoticons are old as hell. It was just about 100 years later (1982, to be exact) that emoticons were first incorporated into computer language, and they became more mainstream after the turn of the millennium.

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoji