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How do I text thee?
"Oh em gee!" my granddaughter shouted out the window as she pointed to a fat squirrel hanging upside down in a tree.
"Oh em what?" I asked.
"Grandma! Oh my God. Don't you know anything?"
She stretched her neck out and stared at me, waiting for my answer.
Fact is, I think I know a lot, but apparently no matter how hard I try to stay up with the youngest generation walking around today, it's way too much to keep up with.
It might have taken me a few minutes to realize she was speaking in text lingo. But less than a few seconds to realize what this meant to our language.
Up until now I had thought these abbreviations and shortened words were just for the screen. I would have said written page, but a page seems to be going the way of the cassette player, and rather quickly, I might add.
I assumed that people wouldn't actually ever use these acronyms in actual speech. But I was wrong. And I shiver to think of where are language is headed.
Any day now, I expect her to say "LOL, Grandma. And TBH, IDK about my BFF. WBU? Did you ever fight with your BFF?"
Huh?
But language marches on. Looking back, I'm sure our ancestors in the seventeenth century weren't too happy when their kids started talking differently.
When some teenage boy looked at his grandmother and instead of saying, "I saw thee and thy friend picking apples," he blurted out, "I saw you and your friend picking apples."
His grandmother probably shook her head in confusion.
And when he continued with, "I thought you were getting oranges," in place of, "I thought thou wert getting oranges," that flabbergasted old lady most likely dipped her eyebrows into a question mark.
Then before fainting, she probably put her hand to her heart and exclaimed, "Oh my God. What are thou saying?"
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Comments (65)
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Report Wed May 1, 2013 - 9:15 pmMany girls scare from squirrels. My daughter also fear from these small animals. Last year a squirrel bite my daughter. From that time, I started to protect my house from these.Reply -
Report Wed Jun 27, 2012 - 8:02 pmCute, Janie! While reading yesterday, I came upon some slang that has gone out-of-date: the term "jawing" for talking. Usually used as, "Aw, stop your jawing!" I thought about it and decided it's rather clever, just a little sassy, and probably ripe for a comeback. So on that note, I will stop my jawing and get back to my real life...Reply
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3 replies, Last reply by rock on Sat Mar 2, 2013 at 1:45 pm
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Report Mon Jul 2, 2012 - 1:40 pmI have use my phone everyday to text for business and others. carpet cleaning Sacramento CAReply
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1 reply, Last reply by sahm adrangi on Sat Feb 23, 2013 at 5:03 am
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Mon Jul 2, 2012 - 8:47 am
Thanks Jeri - I'm glad you love words. We all should.Reply -
4 replies, Last reply by sahm adrangi on Sat Feb 23, 2013 at 5:01 am
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Report Thu Jun 28, 2012 - 12:20 amI guess I'm one of the ones who knows nothing except BFF, LOL and OMG. I feel old. Good column Janie.Reply
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9 replies, Last reply by casino online gratis on Thu Feb 7, 2013 at 2:21 pm
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Report Wed Feb 6, 2013 - 3:12 pmVery nice post even i would say that whole blog is awesome. I keep learning new things every day from post like these. Good stuff!Reply
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Report Thu Jan 31, 2013 - 12:20 pmHis grandmother probably shook her head in confusion.Reply
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Report Thu Jan 17, 2013 - 6:31 pmThe Help provided in Algebra 1 Help and Algebra 2 Help. The answer from the question can also found at Algebra 1 Answers and Algebra 2 Answers.Reply
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1 reply, Last reply by dentist in van nuys on Wed Jan 23, 2013 at 3:11 pm
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Report Sat Jan 5, 2013 - 2:50 pmI'm sure our ancestors in the seventeenth century weren't too happy when their kids started talking differently. Roulette FranceseReply
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3 replies, Last reply by Curbing on Thu Jan 17, 2013 at 4:52 pm
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Report Wed Jan 9, 2013 - 6:51 pmThe most common reason for students to take up Management courses is that they aspire to be a manager someday and would like to plan, organise, direct and monitor a group of people to work together and meet a projected goal. Before realising this dream, however, one would have to write several management essays as an integral part of most universities’ curriculumReply
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Report Mon Jan 7, 2013 - 5:25 pmWhen some teenage boy looked at his grandmother and instead of saying, "I saw thee and thy friend picking apples," he blurted out, "I saw you and your friend picking apples."Reply
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1 reply, Last reply by los angeles domestic violence lawyer on Tue Jan 8, 2013 at 12:15 pm
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Report Mon Jan 7, 2013 - 2:40 pmActually, this means that you are free to choose a topic of interest to you, which will often make your essay a stronger one.Reply
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Report Mon Jul 2, 2012 - 2:01 amSpeaking (or writing) as one who does not text, this is a little scary and makes me worry I may sink further into my self-imposed anti-social period. Aside from havng these and other frightening thoughts since reading this (I took a while cuz I had to figure out some of the text abrrev) I thought this was a really great piece.....on many levels....as I often do with your musings and stories. Even when I am not talking a lot, I love words and I know you do 2. TTYL LLL JeriReply
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7 replies, Last reply by Alex on Wed Oct 17, 2012 at 10:26 am
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Report Wed Jun 27, 2012 - 9:04 pmI had to laugh because I use OMG all the time. I remember when "neat" and "cool" became the latest and greatest to use. My mom looked at me rather funny, too.Reply
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7 replies, Last reply by Joe on Thu Aug 16, 2012 at 8:21 am
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Wed Jun 27, 2012 - 5:38 pm
OMG PMSL :)Reply -
4 replies, Last reply by slipcover for sofas on Tue Jul 24, 2012 at 8:23 am
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Wed Jun 27, 2012 - 11:51 pm
Hey Janie, Almost all the way through before I spit coke - wert . I don't know what most of that shit means, got a little lesson last week and I probably don't want to know. I wert expecting a different answer. OMGLOLWTFIDK!Reply -
1 reply, Last reply by Janie Emaus on Thu Jun 28, 2012 at 6:01 am
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Report Thu Jun 28, 2012 - 4:56 amFunny blog, Janie! I try to decipher my granddaughter's messages to her friends...as a former cop is it any surprise that I see something sinister in every letter?Reply
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1 reply, Last reply by Janie Emaus on Thu Jun 28, 2012 at 6:00 am
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Report Wed Jun 27, 2012 - 8:20 pmI still don't know what half of those are...I do know BFF LOL and OMG. So I'm half in the loop! Cute Blog today Janie!Reply
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1 reply, Last reply by Janie Emaus on Wed Jun 27, 2012 at 8:33 pm
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Report Wed Jun 27, 2012 - 8:08 pmHa ha. this made me laugh because I hadn't thought about it, but you are so right. Maybe we'll soon make gestures and grunts, having gone full circle. : 0Reply
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1 reply, Last reply by Janie Emaus on Wed Jun 27, 2012 at 8:27 pm
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Report Wed Jun 27, 2012 - 7:45 pmLOL! I've always been fascinated by the evolution of language--and grammar--Janie. Both seem to be changing at an amazing pace these days. Enjoyed your post!Reply
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1 reply, Last reply by Janie Emaus on Wed Jun 27, 2012 at 8:22 pm
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