R-U DWT?
Presidio Sentinel San Diego, June 2012
By Laura Walcher
Here’s the short version: a woman hears that a friend has suddenly died, and in haste
and grief, she shoots off an email to the husband,
expressing her condolences, offering heartfelt help if
needed, and signs off with … “LOL.”
Now, as any kid can tell you,
“LOL, ” in
our mile-a-minute world of communication, does indeed not
mean “Lots Of Love.”
Though, indeed, it could.
It just
doesn’t. Much
to the poor lady’s horror, her own kid clued her in, and of course, that called
for another fast apologetic email, and heaven knows what gaffes she made on
that one.
If I’ve left those of you living in caves, and therefore in
the dark.
“LOL” in contemporary computer jargon, stands for ‘Laugh Out
Loud.”
Ouch.
In Newsweek, Robert J. Samuelson bemoaned the decline of the
comma. It used
to be common (not comma: common) in
long-accepted English,
yet is less and less likely to be found – even in its usual place, which
is after an introductory prepositional phrase, or in sentences that begin with
“Naturally, “ or “Amazingly,” and so on.
The comma helps us pause, catch our breath, he pines, noting that even
that is a declining luxury. We
just don’t have time any more to stop for a comma.
We’d better get back to deep-breathing, lest we find
ourselves living in isolation with only our “communication” devices to keep us
warm.
I’m making an assumption that we actually might connect,
given the amazing array of hardware now at our disposal. I’m just about finished believing how
convenient cell-phones are, and I can’t even fathom how willingly we accepted
our pathetic means of connection when we “only” had to search for a telephone or for some dimes for a public
one,
Back then, we were “DWT.”
Yet the burgeoning hardware industry has now led us to more
tangled complications. In addition to remembering the essentials of my friends
and colleagues (ie. their names), I now have to respect their particular,
favorite type of communication – that is, the one to be used if I really want
to talk or, heaven forbid, wish a response. They have cell phones,of course; also, their office phones and their home
phones. But wait! Not necesssarily for talking: despite their collection of phone,
‘phone’ people are usually the ones that insist on text-messaging. And, those
addicted to email often have several addresses there as
well, and when you realize you’ve had no response, you’re forced to research
the addresses you haven’t yet used.
Advice: try not to choose the one that goes
routinely to SPAM.
If you really do
want to be heard, if you long to be noticed, here’s more advice: whatever you’re thinking of saying to
anybody,
no matter what, shorten your message; use fewer words. We are charged to get our
messages across in increasingly succinct mode, be it a tweet, a text, a status
update or whatever becomes the newest short-hand communiqué. Even the
long-respected “elevator pitch” has gone way before the now-preferred
“escalator pitch,” as noted in “The Attention Economy,” by Thomas H. Davenport
and John C. Beck: “… short enough to make when you’re on the up escalator and
your funding prospect in on the down escalator, passing by.”
Whoops, I’m approaching TMI. OMG, didn’t mean to stress you out here.
Yet, DTR, y‘know?
You can count on me to have your best interests in heart. R-U DWT?
Bonus section, Vocabulary Lesson:
R-U DWT: Are
You Down With That?
LOL: Laugh Out
Loud
TMI: Too Much
Information
OMG: Oh My God
DTR: Determine
The Relationship
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