A Brief History of the ASCII Penis

Man has always sought to create, and has indeed done so since time immemorial: mathematics, civilization, language. Some of his modest efforts have reached the realm of art, especially as influenced by the primacy of his ability to create. And it is that very intersection that we discuss today: the ASCII penis.

ASCII stands for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, which is a very long-winded way of saying "default interchangeable character set," or DICS. It is a standard that defines 255 characters that every computer subscribing to the ASCII standard could read and interpret in the same way.

ASCII was derived from telegraph codes, which are lost in the mists of time. Today, ASCII is an aging standard from the 19th century that all operating systems can understand but few depend on anymore. Linux still uses ASCII as its default text-encoding standard and has yet to move to Unicode as most modern operating systems have, perhaps owing to an intense focus on DICS.

The penis, also known medically as the dong, is a long appendage derived from the fetus's clit that shoots sperm into the female vaginal canal for purposes of procreation. It also pumps piss.

In art, representations of the penis are known as phalluses (Latin phallī) and tend to embody the powerful, creational aspect of male fertility inherent in the throbbing, erect nature of the penis. In fact, the first picture ever drawn by a homo sapiens was phallic in nature.

As the phallus is a perennial¹ object of artistic endeavor, it stands to reason that the Internet super-highway's ASCII would converge with drawings of dongs before long. Thus today's many examples of ASCII penis art, with which Internet users copy, paste, and enlighten one another.

Below are several examples of ASCII penises. Please feel to add your own in the comments.

……………………„„-~^^~„-„„_
………………„-^*'' : : „'' : : : : *-„
…………..„-* : : :„„--/ : : : : : : : '\
…………./ : : „-* . .| : : : : : : : : '|
……….../ : „-* . . . | : : : : : : : : |
………...\„-* . . . . .| : : : : : : : :'|
……….../ . . . . . . '| : : : : : : : :|
……..../ . . . . . . . .'\ : : : : : : : |
……../ . . . . . . . . . .\ : : : : : : :|
……./ . . . . . . . . . . . '\ : : : : : /
….../ . . . . . . . . . . . . . *-„„„„-*'
….'/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '|
…/ . . . . . . . ./ . . . . . . .|
../ . . . . . . . .'/ . . . . . . .'|
./ . . . . . . . . / . . . . . . .'|
'/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .'|
'| . . . . . \ . . . . . . . . . .|
'| . . . . . . \„_^- „ . . . . .'|
'| . . . . . . . . .'\ .\ ./ '/ . |
| .\ . . . . . . . . . \ .'' / . '|
| . . . . . . . . . . / .'/ . . .|
| . . . . . . .| . . / ./ ./ . .|

………………………………………._¸„„„„_
…………………….…………...„--~*'¯…….'\
………….…………………… („-~~--„¸_….,/ì'Ì
…….…………………….¸„-^"¯ : : : : :¸-¯"¯/'
……………………¸„„-^"¯ : : : : : : : '\¸„„,-"
**¯¯¯'^^~-„„„----~^*'"¯ : : : : : : : : : :¸-"
.:.:.:.:.„-^" : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :„-"
:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.: : : : : : : : : : ¸„-^¯
.::.:.:.:.:.:.:.:. : : : : : : : ¸„„-^¯
:.' : : '\ : : : : : : : ;¸„„-~"
:.:.:: :"-„""***/*'ì¸'¯
:.': : : : :"-„ : : :"\
.:.:.: : : : :" : : : : \,
:.: : : : : : : : : : : : 'Ì
: : : : : : :, : : : : : :/
"-„_::::_„-*__„„~"

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¹ Not to be confused with perineal, which means “pertaining to the area behind the balls up to, but not including, the asshole; see also taint.” ^