E-mail article in F&VM

[Peter Stedman]

Lovely article by Jan Watterson on e-mails. I have a couple of stories on subject.

I regularly receive e-mails from a lady up north relating to my profession of being a magician, but quite often one will vanish to where ever lost e-mails go. However I have just had a message from her forwarding to me the lastest lost mail. Keeping it short, it appears that someone with a nickname virtually same as mine had been receiving these and thinking they were spam had just deleted them. However this latest he had opened and read and realised what was happening and returned it to my friend. What is so odd this gent is a Musician not a magician. He is also a part time teacher as is my friend and his stage name is virtually same as mine. This seems such a strange and almost supernatural happening.

My second point is that I get used to strange oddly abreviated writing in text messages (I hate this) but in e-mails I expect accepted English to be used. I received the following e-mail from a middle-aged chap I had only met once before.
G8 pete, peraps i was camra shy? & im ken 2 learn more & lokin 4 as much advis on efex, pater & teknek. Il txt u sat pm 2 met up 4 a cofi. C u soon.

I haven't replied as [1] I don't know what the bl**dy hell it means and [2] I think it's a total insult to write like this to anyone. Steam is coming from my ears as I write. Comments!
Pete

[JanW]

Glad you liked the article, Pete.

I agree that the email you received would make me cringe - but suspect that we are swimming against the tide.

Jan

[tom hardwick]

I try to write emails in proper English, but when I send an SMS I abreviate hugely in an effort to compress more information into less space. Peter - you're joking when you say you don't understand it, right?

[Peter Stedman]

Ummmmmmm . . . . . Jan writes that we cannot hold back the tide and Tom wondered if I was joking! Well when that odd e-mail arrived I was with a friend even older than myself so, after our shock, we set about deciphering it. We eventually managed after a fashion but failed entirely on G8 but upon asking a local teenager we learned it was the code for ‘great’.

We know that our language is constantly changing with new words and phrases added every day and little used words dropped. We will assume that this new ‘language’ will take over everything and eventually our books and magazines be printed in this new cryptic manner. This raises points for us older folk as it means we will have to learn this entirely new coded language. It is assumed that dictionaries will be – or have already been - produced to enable us to learn. Naturally the codes or abbreviations will have to be standardised for all users. For instance, if I were asked to produce a code or abbreviation for the word ‘great’ I would most likely choose ‘grt’ or even ‘grate’. I would never have thought of G8. We know the abbreviation FX being ‘effects’ but the writer of my e-mail chose ‘efex’ for the same. Clearly standardisation is very important or a g8 muddle will ensue. (Should that be G8?).

I don’t wish to be acrimonious, but I would like to know the code or abbreviation for ‘acrimonious’. What about ‘anthropology’ and a commonly used word such as ‘biodegradable’ and, sticking a pin into the Film & Video Maker, what about ‘stabilisation’? What are the codes for just these three samples? If one can produce very short codes for these and other words, will others understand or be able to crack the code?

U tnk im jkn tm?

pt.

[Brian Saberton]

I suppose for biodegradable we could simply say: rots
Can't come up with anything for the others just yet. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I also dislike many of the abreviations used in text and e mail messages.