Friday, February 18, 2011

Texting

by Pat Gulley

Guess who is texting these days? Me! Shocking as my phone and it’s ‘press twice for the letter B’ is a dinosaur compared to everything advertised on television—not TV these days. And I’ve been reading a lot of articles and blogs about editing and spelling lately, so it occurred to me that maybe it would be easier if I learned all those ‘texting’ words I see so often.


So, I found this site:

http://www.gaarde.org/acronyms/

And after I laughed for several minutes, I decided it was like learning codes. I spent almost 40 years in the travel industry, codes are a given, every city and airport has a 3-letter code, every airline has a 2-letter code—everything is in code, so I could do this.

30 minutes later, my eyes blurred (okay the cataract surgery had something to do with it) and it occurred to me that many of these----things (words?) stood for things I would never say. I would never use them, and couldn’t expect anyone I texted to understand them, so why bother to learn them? I’d have to print them out to remember them.

I can understand some abbreviations that have come into usage: LOL is so widely used I expect to see it on one of those lists of things that needs banning, but it is understandable, as is OTOH and JMHO. But ‘u’ for you, ‘lite’ for the small spectrum the human race live within—not so much. And has anyone really figured out how lite applies to food? More confusion than exact information—not info. BFF is the most nonsensical one for me, but will allow that if it stays with the group under the age of 20 it is okay—not OK it suits the teen time.

Well the long and the short of it, after texting several times with my fat fingers I discovered that if I kept this phone it would be best to grow my thumbnails longer because the letters on my keypad are about the size of a grain of salt. Meaning learning to type hasn’t done me a bit of good because I’m back to one-fingering, I mean, one-thumbing it. And, yes, all those abbreviations would come in handy, but only if I said things like that. Are we expected to form a new way of talking too? And that is when, this time for some good, a little guilt set in. I’m a writer, editing is a major part of my daily routine and good spelling and grammar counts for a lot. I should never concede to this form of spelling or usage or talking. It would ruin my voice, my style. So, I’m texting and taking more time than seems right to write what should only be a quick note. I know I’m taking way to much time, because the return responses barely give me time to put down the phone and raise my coffee cup or wine glass to my lips.

Any ideas? I know, I know, get a new phone. Well, I have gone into the stores to look. Mind boggling. I leave with an even bigger headache and no new phone.

17 comments:

Jenna said...

LOL, Pat! I was going to do a whole response in code, but it proved to be too time-consuming. Still, ROFL list of stuff, that. I think my favorite might be YYY, probably because that thought crosses my mind a lot.

PatRemick said...

Thanks for the laugh this morning Pat! I agree with you - I m so slow at texting that it hardly seems worthwhile! ANd yet, it seems to be the way of the world these days. My kids can text faster than I can type on a traditional keyboard.

Joyce Tremel said...

I only text when absolutely necessary. I have a $15 LG Tracfone that doesn't even have a camera on it, let alone a keyboard. And the 4 key sticks so if I text it takes at least three tries to get the letter I want.

My kids both have BlackBerries, so they text a lot. I like that they keep in touch many times a day. They certainly wouldn't call each other that often.

Wilfred Bereswill said...

IDK, AFAIR IANALBIPOOTV

I text with my college daughters, but I happen to have a Sprint HTC EVO with Android. Down side is that the keyboard is virtual. I had a Blackberry with a reasonable keyboard, but it was annoyingly slow.

Upside is the EVO is BIG, so the screen is big, making the virual keyboard big and easier to use. Oh, the even better thing is the speech to text. With the Vlingo app, my phone listens until I say, "Hey Vlingo."

It replies in a sexy female voice, "What can I do for you today, Will?"

I can then say all different commands and it is pretty accurate. I can text without touching a key, or tell it to navigate me somewhere or tell it to search the internet all without picking up my phone.

My word verification is "phoging" sounds like texting to me.

Ramona said...

IAWTP.

:-)

Linda Leszczuk said...

Pat - I've also got a little 'press twice for B' phone and no desire to upgrade. But my older grandkids got cell phones for Christmas so I'm doing a lot of texting. And I. CAN'T. DO. SHORTCUTS. I've tried. I can't send 'luv u 2'. All of my old English teachers - well, most of them - rise up in my mind and forbid it, so I type out everything in proper, grammatically correct English. I even (gasp) proof before I hit send. It's so sad.

Jennie - could you translate YYY for me? I can't figure it out.

Karen in Ohio said...

Hee,hee, Pat. I have actually heard someone say "L-O-L", in conversation. Freaky.

All three of my daughters work in situations where they cannot take phone calls, especially the oldest, who teaches nursing clinicals in hospital settings. However, texting works with all of them, so if I need to communicate quickly that's the preferred method.

My "new" phone, which replaced the one that died last fall, also has a virtual keyboard, which I really like, so much better than my old "press twice for B" kind. And it has a fabulous calendar feature which I use whenever I need to make an appointment, or schedule book club, since I haven't carried a daybook in years. And I've been using the camera when shopping. Last week I tried something on and took a photo of it in the dressing room. Feedback from my daughter saved me from spending that money! LOL

Jenna said...

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

Patg said...

Sheesh!!!!!!
I couldn't figure out any of those short cuts!
ROFL? YYY?
IAWTP? I am with.......
Will, forget it, I can't even copy it.But thanks for the phone info.
Linda, my speedy fingers daughter doesn't do shortcuts either.
Yeah, Karen, OMG (yippee, one I know) I hear used in conversation all the time.
Patg

Anonymous said...

Texting is the shorthand of the 21st century and beyond. I learned shorthand in business school and use it to this day for personal convenience. I have no intention of going beyond that!

Jo P

Wilfred Bereswill said...

I don't know, as far as I remember, I am not a lawyer, but I play one on tv.

Actually, I am an engineer who does mostly legal work.

By the way, if you have an iPhone or Android phone you MUST download the free app, ShopSavvy. It turns your camera into a barcode scanner. If you're at the store, you use your phone to scan the item and it finds the lowest price for that item both on the internet and locally.

I've saved quite a bit of money for those stores that match competitor's offers by showing them my phone. Heck I save $75 on a dorm refrigerator by showing Best Buy that they had the frige for $75 cheaper on their own website.

Ramona said...

Pat:

IAWTP: I Agree With This Post.

ROFL: Rolling On the Floor Laughing,

which is the kid sister to

ROTFLMAO: Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off

Some others I use a lot:

IIRC - If I Recall Correctly

WIT? - What In Tarnation?

And the every popular WT series:

WTH: What The Hell
WTF: What The F...
WTFFF: The above, under extreme duress.

Patg said...

Ramona,
I now wondering if I really want to know, however, I am ROFL
Patg

Justine said...

Get an iPhone! But then I'm not paying the bill anymore... :)

LOL!!

Anonymous said...

Gulley! I never thought I would see the day when you of all people would text! My kids all do, but not me. Takes up too much time, but I do know BRB from playing Poker on line! Hugs PatC

Unknown said...

I have a 'press twice for B' phone, too, and the life-changing moment for me was a little thing called T-9, or Autocorrection. Now I can type *real* words with the accuracy left behind by my iPhone-totin' friends. :)

And Ramona: IAWTP2!

Patg said...

GGG
There I invented a new one.
Grumble grumble grumble
But I did copy all you suggested.
Patg
My word verification was
nononnea-No No Nnea
Ha