#946 Save Our Sense

They say that human beings need to communicate somehow. We have the capacity for language and will find a way to use it. Some languages consist of melodious words; some of glottal clicks, pops, and whistles.
Imagine... a language based on the fundamentals of beatboxing.
So I suppose it’s not unusual kids have picked up on the whole texting phenomenon and taken it to new levels, using every typewriter symbol at their command.
Reading such a message composed of initials, numbers, and real words; one might think we had come back to the days of pidgin English or French patois favored by early Euro traders with indigenous populations.
Throw a bucket of alphabet soup at them and see what sticks.
Sometimes it gets a little absurd when thrown into ordinary speech. I had someone leave me an actual audio message on my phone the other day and she used the term BTW. As in, BTW, I’ll be at the restaurant about 6:00.
Funny, while BTW takes less long to text; it takes exactly the same amount of time to say as By The Way. I had to LOL.
It’s also interesting how little time it takes for something to become a convention. Like when telling someone about a website, it’s really not necessary to speak out the w-w-w- anymore. It’s pretty safely assumed. When I hear a commercial on the air saying www etcetera, I cringe. In radio we’re all about shortening the time of the message and increasing the meaning.
And the letter W happens to be the longest letter in the English language. In fact, the only letter with more than one syllable.
(I bet you’re singing the ABCs to yourself right now aren’t you? Ellemeno is not a letter.)
So to repeat doubleyou doubleyou doubleyou three times is a big waste of time.
Also in radio, the convention has been to type our scripts in all capital letters. Easier to read. Unfortunately, since the new convention of all capitals in blogs and emails settled in, all my scripts now make me want to read them in a shout.
To which I can only utter those time-honored initials of appeal for relief, S.O.S.
Or am I asking for scouring power...?
America, ya gotta love it.