in all seriousness, it’s likely because the origin of the emoticon is tied in with the ASCII character set, and the codes available when the emoticon was conceived. emoticons were around for decades, before we started using them on phones.
i didn’t think they will be able to. all the kleptocrats will make sure that there’s some legal document that will guarantee that they get hugely compensated in the event that the government tries to take their property back.
perhaps it’s worded that way for legal reasons? maybe if they flat out said it was non-toxic, and then it turned out that they were wrong, someone could sue them.
i am sure it’s the same sort of idea behind posting a video of someone committing a crime on camera, they use the word “allegedly”
in all seriousness, it’s likely because the origin of the emoticon is tied in with the ASCII character set, and the codes available when the emoticon was conceived. emoticons were around for decades, before we started using them on phones.
in fact, “smilies” are indeed not German!!!