IIRC the trend, including the obligatory cutesy avatar (and PL as a life-style choice /g), started with Java. And Java was ~coincidental with internet breaking

IIRC the trend, including the obligatory cutesy avatar (and PL as a life-style choice /g), started with Java. And Java was ~coincidental with internet breaking out of universities. So my guess would be that it's 'an internet thing'. p.s. 'Rotary Club' popped into my head after posting this. Possibly this is a manifestation of "learned" (lol) and professional associations for a domain that famously lacks professional credentials, so 'birds of a feather' naturally form around the specialized tools and their users. And we get PL feel good conferences, the language hero (Gosling, Pike, et al.), the stuffed animals, and the rest of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_societies#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_societies#History