💣 009 | text

[devoutish]

ws lukng up infrmatn abt nu splngs usd n txt cmmncatn n fns n cmputrs etc n mst of wut I fnd ws fckng wingng abt kds toda bng lzy n nt noing hw to spl prprly as f ts wr a mdrn fckng invntn

tr r sum difs n nw tngs hv bn dn wi em tt we ddnt do n t pst wi r telgrfs ex t nos splly r clvr

inform8ion, 4warned, 2day

bt t ida ws crtnly nt invntd bi 21st cntry chldrn s py rspct 2 ur eldrs wo wr fr bttr t bng incmprhnsbl tn ur kds toda

wn i gt trd f mi tny tlfn kybrd im guna rite al mi txts lk ts




[OOC translation for people who don't hate themselves:

was looking up information about new spellings used in text communication on phones and computers etc. and most of what I found was fucking whinging about kids today being lazy and not knowing how to spell properly as if this were a modern fucking invention

there are differences and new things have been done with them that we didn't do much in the past with our telegraphs for example the numbers especially are clever

information, forewarned, today

but the idea was certainly not invented by 21st century children so pay respect to your elders who were far better at being incomprehensible than your kids today

when I get tired of my tiny telephone keyboard I'm going to write all my texts like this ]

Comments

[devoutish]

Show me something from the 25th c., then. Go on.

text > video

[snarkbot]

It would be difficult to do some of it on this device as it has a tendency to use animated text and holographic overlays.

Hold on.

[ He switches to video, and Skeets is there hovering, holding the comm with one of his little robot arms.

After a moment he projects a hologram which says something along the lines of "took a nano2nd" and "how ths", except the "ths" but is also bouncing a bit and there's arrows pointing to the words and the o in nano2nd is basically a future animated clock emoji. It's all very ridiculous. ]

text

[devoutish]

[... Huh. Alfie repeats the video clip over a few times, leaning forward to peer closely at the screen.]

And everyone texts like this?

text

[snarkbot]

The younger people, mostly, when they text at all, I believe, but it has been some years since I've been in the 25 century. I'm much more familiar with the parlance of the 21st.

text

[devoutish]

Where phrases are abbreviated but not words, yes.

*wpaabnwy</font

[snarkbot]

The tl;dr version, exactly.

Regardless, I've found it's much more useful to go with the flow than complain.

[devoutish]

tl;dr?

[snarkbot]

too long; didn't read

Which originally was a criticism against something very long, which became a way of giving a summary (ie "if that was too long here is the "tl;dr" version") so tl;dr also came to mean a short, to the point way of saying something that either followed or would normally be a much longer explanation or tirade.

Which I believe says a lot about contemporary internet culture, not least that the phrase itself is abbreviated.

[devoutish]

I think you may be underestimating the importance of being concise.

[snarkbot]

I may be sore because people treat me as tl;dr far too often. That aside, I said it says a lot, but perhaps what it says isn't wholly positive or negative.

[devoutish]

It may say a lot, but I think it says more about people in general,
don't you think?

[snarkbot]

That either they're impatient, or that, like you, they value being concise?

[devoutish]

Yeah. Not that there's never a time and place for this tl;dr,
of course.

[snarkbot]

Imagine if academia abandoned their tl;dr ways.


Though, that'd give me a lot less time grading papers so maybe I should suggest it.

[devoutish]

An academic robot. That's you?

[snarkbot]

Professor Skeets of the De Chima University history department, at your service.

It was the job they assigned me when I arrived here.

[devoutish]

What time period do you specialize in?

[snarkbot]

My extensive historical databanks technically make me an expert on every historical era, within reason. My universe's history isn't quite the same as this one, and the second half of the 20th century in particular diverges a lot. Censorship means there's a lot of gaps in what I've been able to discover, though I wouldn't be allowed to teach those gaps regardless.

I end up teaching a lot of "Intro to Historical Thought" and other similar broad overview classes. If more specific, it's usually North American history, like "Loyalists; Migration to Canada During the American Revolution."

I suspect they're not quite sure what to do with me.

[devoutish]

I suspect they're not quite sure what to do with most of us.

[snarkbot]

What did they try to do with you?

[devoutish]

Put me on the radio. I'd have thought they'd regret it by now, but they haven't fired me.

[snarkbot]

Why would they regret it?

[devoutish]

I don't take it very seriously, and I imagine they were hoping that I would.

[snarkbot]

In my experience, there's nothing wrong with a bit of levity sometimes.

[ ...Sometimes. ]

[devoutish]

I bring in listeners even though I frequently insult them. That's what they care about the most, I suppose.