r/todayilearned • u/altrightobserver • 12h ago

TIL that one of the first examples of emoticons in written text comes from Dante's "Purgatorio:" "Whoever in the face of men reads 'omo' / Might well in these have recognised the 'm.'" The two "o"s signify sunken eyes, while the letter "m" forms the angular outlines of emaciated facial features.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon
1.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

169

u/Redditor_From_Italy 11h ago

Omo means man (uomo in modern Italian, homo in Latin), so I assume this is a pun of sorts

34

u/SpeccyScotsman 10h ago

Correct, I remember reading something where someone said God did this on purpose lol

528

u/DroogieHowser 12h ago

omo wats this!? *notices your emaciated ribcage*

159

u/Backupusername 11h ago

Please stop calling it my "bulgy-wulgy", my stomach has distended to retain water because I haven't eaten food in weeks.

13

u/Eruionmel 8h ago

I hate this

7

u/catfroman 7h ago

I ugly laughed at this. I am going to hell.

6

u/another_guy2 7h ago

Catholic cannon inflation

42

u/iCapn 12h ago

No omo

22

u/ClearYellow 11h ago

Bro don’t be omophobic

17

u/AscendedViking7 11h ago

owo whats this

notices your bulge

158

u/RightOnManYouBetcha 12h ago

OmO💀

75

u/TheRealHFC 12h ago

Just looks like a Jeep

39

u/tonycomputerguy 12h ago

OnmnO

7 bars for the seven continents, IIRC.

2

u/mah131 7h ago

I thought it was for the 7 cities of gold.

69

u/epidemicsaints 12h ago

The proto uwu

59

u/Direct-Contract5509 12h ago

The Divine Comedy is the greatest epic poem ever.

24

u/zoqfotpik 12h ago

Renaissance fanfiction of Roman fanfiction of the greatest epic poem ever.

23

u/CavulusDeCavulei 12h ago

*Medieval

If you want a reinassance one, it's the "Orlando Furioso"

17

u/Visible-Literature14 11h ago

No his last name is Bloom

8

u/CavulusDeCavulei 11h ago

No, Bloom is from Winx Club, a late modern italian masterpiece

3

u/Visible-Literature14 11h ago

Twinx Club, you say?

1

u/XF10 9h ago

One of the creators of the classic YT Italia video "Rap Rumeno" actually worked at the animation studio that made Winx Club

https://youtu.be/aHyOuMcaDdA?is=Xx9Wigg6HZdSazvC

4

u/Papa-Bear453767 11h ago

It’s not fanfiction

3

u/nickcash 9h ago

How would you say it's meaningfully different?

1

u/Papa-Bear453767 9h ago

Because it’s not fanfiction of anything, it’s just fiction

0

u/BronkusZonkus 7h ago

I mean there’s a bunch of real life people in it

1

u/Papa-Bear453767 7h ago

So it’s fiction

1

u/BronkusZonkus 7h ago

I mean there’s a lot of mythological characters too. And Dante was a fan of them…

1

u/Papa-Bear453767 7h ago

Mythology is not fiction!! Fundamentally separate category!!!

1

u/zorbiburst 6h ago

It's not mythology, it's fanfiction about mythology

0

u/AgentCirceLuna 10h ago

I absolutely hate it when people use modern cultural trends to describe something old or ancient. It shows how the internet and pop culture can rot brains.

1

u/bldkis 11h ago

I think you mean Paradise Lost

2

u/Good-Independent-897 11h ago

The great fanfic

9

u/SilasTalbot 11h ago

Emaciated Zoidberg?

5

u/Charming-Ad4660 9h ago

Of course the first smiley in history shows up in Purgatory. Nobody in Hell was in the mood.

•

u/Trama-D 3m ago

In Hell, you say? >8]

3

u/R3DKn16h7 8h ago

I am disappointed Wikipedia does not really have a source for this.

There is one guy on reddit that seems to mention it https://www.reddit.com/r/etymology/comments/7e293a/theres_an_intriguing_line_in_the_divine_comedy/

And the wikipedia discussion mentions two other random websites.

But I'd like some more in depth analysis otherwise I would call this BS