IDGI

I don't text; I'll just start with that. I will stretch my brain (and heart) a bit and say that I understand that when one is texting, one would like to be quick and not type everything out; therefore, one naturally wants to use an abbreviation or two, to quicken communication.

Second: I found the little girl in Sleepless in Seattle overly precocious and rude. I didn't think it was cute when she would say things like, "They're MFE." In my opinion (and this is my blog so I won't apologize for my soap box), when you are having a conversation with another person, or any form of communication, for that matter (i.e. in person, email, letter, texting, etc.), you should be as clear as possible. Communication can be difficult enough without adding abbreviations to make your listener/reader have to figure them out.

Don't get me wrong: I love puzzles. But jigsaw and Sudoku type, not person-to-person. Like right now, you're probably thinking: "Geesh, Prone-Girl. Step down off that box and get over yourself!" But little do you know, I'm really a delightful person. Easy going. Really. But uh...don't ask my husband, because he might use the word "finicky" and what does he know anyway...

So here I am, again, repeating my finicky (whatever!) self in a melancholy state about this world of ignorance in matters of language communication. I'm not proclaiming myself educated above high school in English. I have only an under-graduate degree, and that is a B.S. in Health Science. Yes, a science degree. I took only a few English classes and so I assume there is much I don't know about this language of ours.

Indeed, I also assume there may be somebody reading this, having already corrected several grammatical mistakes (and perhaps that person would have a general dislike of my punctuation and over use of parenthesis that I will, of course, strongly defend as my personal style). But I do know a little to be sad for the general population when I read people using abbreviations or emoticons to express what words, full words, could have.

Now I don't mind a smiley face or when I read, "LOL" on something; it is quick for me to understand. And with so much miscommunication of tone in emails (I've mistaken sincerity for sarcasm once in an email), a short smiley can be an okay thing. But really, shouldn't we have enough grasp of our words to not have to express what our tone is? Shouldn't our words stand alone? Perhaps there just isn't enough time in our day to reread something to make sure our tone is clear. But...wait a minute. I thought texting and emailing were brought forward to quicken our communication. That should leave a tiny bit of time to be clear, shouldn't it?

That's all I have for today. It's such a good thing I'm so easy-going...