this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Yes, it is Russian.

Edit: source

Edit: fixed link )

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

this is true but it doesn't explain why;

this is the case because IM clients will often put a colon between the username and the message, so simply writing ) gives you "username : )". it then escaped simple IM clients and now the russosphere uses it even in the absence of the colon.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, it's one of my favorite little historical developments on the internet. A totally local convention that made perfect sense in the context of mIRC and similar things, yet persisted as an independent meaningful token.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Did it make sense with mIRC? IRC clients wrap the name in angle-brackets, not a colon. This sounds more like AIM.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember it with mIRC, but it might have been a false memory, you're right! Then again, it might have been some custom styling that enabled it?

Anyway, it definitely is the case for stuff like ICQ (I double-checked 😺).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Try escaping your happiness?