Saturday, June 29, 2019
Leaving notes and texting instead of speaking
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Spinal stoop and text neck
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| Spinal stoop |
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| Text neck |
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Stickerese: A new texting dialect
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Bumped up
On arriving at the airport, Sergei TXTs Alexander on what happened at check in.
...
Sergei: THNX 4 seeing me off. Taxi only took 20 mins, But at check in…
Alexander: What happened?
Sergei: Unbelievable, after being waitlisted 4 months on Thai Air, finally last week getting a seat, I get to the airport & find ... What!
Alexander: Oh no! It's a code share with Biman?!
Sergei: I can hear you chortling & wheezing from the taxi as I return to town.
Alexander: Stop it! I could have a heart attack. So much mirth is more than a mere mortal can take.
Sergei: Other day they confirmed me in Seat 11A window. I get here they sorry BC full, we have to move you to Seat 1A, other class. I’ve left in a huff. I try again tomorrow.
Alexander: Hope
Sergei: Just recalled that so've comeback, nice lady tell me 1A in 1st class so I ask $200 compo & seat 1A as well. You think all Sorbs stupid?
Alexander: Great, but to be on safe side suggest avoid the preflight polonium welcome drink. And don’t be fooled when they land at some hangar in an expanse of tundra where the sign is being freshly painted: in German Frankfurt is "Gulaggrad"
Sergei: Who cares where this all ends? FC lounge is pretty spiffy, 4 waitresses on bended knees putting tubes in both arms, Hey, what's that sign "BUMRUNGRAD HOSPICE"? They’re asking me to sign a form.
Alexander: Just sign - this the nearest you'll get to heaven. You may even be there already.
_________
Voiceover
Sergei cranks up the suspense while Alexander plays the devil.
...
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Reflexivity
...
Diane: I mean it’s a conference on language and when I finished the proposal I realized the whole paper was going to be about technology and I’d called it “Technical issues related to texting.”
Juanita: So you just renamed it “How texting affects how we talk”?
Diane: No, I had to throw out all the technical stuff and when I’d done that I saw there weren’t any language issues left.
Juanita: Hard.
Diane: So I designed a new study. I now have the subjects texting messages to each other.
Juanita: It’s been done.
Diane: Not this way. The messages they send have to be about problems with texting.
Juanita: Very reflexive. Texts about texting. Nice one Di.
____________
Voiceover
Reflexive, meaning to refer to oneself. Reflexive, as in reflexive pronouns like myself, herself, itself. Reflexive verbs, of which there are almost none in English (perjure [oneself]) but many in languages like French or Serbo Croatian. Reflexivity in the sciences where circular relationships can occur, as when the act of observation can influence an outcome.
In this case Juanita is offering a McLuhanesque explanation. Diana has chosen a medium whose message refers to itself.
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