Sideways face ;-)

The sideways face used in billions of emails was invented by an IT expert in Pittsburgh, US, reports The Sun.

Prof Scott Fahlman was the first to use a colon followed by a hyphen and a close bracket to form a smiley in a computer message. It has since spawned dozens of similar characters, including the wink ;-) sad face :-( yawn :-O and surprise 8-O.Prof Fahlman said he prefers :-) to the modern computer graphic of a smiling face, adding: "It destroys the whimsical element of the original."