Mobile phones are everywhere ... More and more of us have got one ... And texting is becoming the language of the 21st century – or so all the hype would have us believe. No doubt time will tell, but for the moment, at least, in this so-called communication age, computers, the Internet, mobile phones and text messaging (millions are sent every day) have become an increasingly dominant part of our lives.
Earlier this year, I was thrown headlong into this New WAP World when I was asked by a close friend if I was up for helping compile a text-messaging dictionary. Always eager to share my knowledge with others, I jumped at the chance!
Eight weeks later – having driven everyone around me almost potty with text speak – I presented my friend with several thousand text messages and emoticons for inclusion in his book: the result of which is the recently published The Total TxtMsg Dictionary, which is – as the cover blurb puts it – “the world’s first comprehensive directory of text-messaging terms, acronyms, abbreviations and definitions”. Readers of G&LH may be pleased to see that among the many abbreviations and acronyms in the book are BHA, GALHA, NSS and PTT.
If you’ve never sent a text message before, now’s the time to give it a go. It’s very simple: mobile-phone screens are small, allowing you a limited number of characters for each message, therefore, you need to abbreviate words as much as possible. There aren’t any rules as such, but to make things easier it’s a good idea to keep to the following ...
So, next time you’re in London for one of Derek Lennard’s world-famous Conway Hall evenings, instead of phoning to tell the boyf: “I’m happy to be with Gay and Lesbian Humanist at the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association’s meeting about a talk on the National Secular Society, Pink Triangle Trust and British Humanist Association” you’ll be able to text him with :
Im:-)2BWivG&LH@TGALHAMEtAbtATlkOnNSS&PTT&BHA.