thanks for a nice review ^_^

I use Twitter a lot, even though I never liked or use instant messaging. For me, the challenge and fun of Twitter is to construct coherent, intelligent Tweets without silly abbreviations and without expanding a single thought train into multiple tweets.

After all, as a professional freelance writer for the past two decades (and a non-freelancer for two more), I have had to write to length for editors routinely. Sometimes the required length is 3,000 words, sometimes 1,000 or even 500.

With Twitter, the length is 140 characters.

If your Tweet runs too long, simply reword it until it fits. If you have a long thought, just post a link to your blog with a clue as to the subject.

Sloppy communication, after all, is usually too long rather than too brief. But good communication requires using real words without sloppy shorthand.

Unfortunately, this trend to sloppy communication spills over into just about everything far too many people write. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve had to ask for clarification just to understand a question in an email.

Or just trashed the unintelligible email without wasting time following up.

The history of language and the written word is a fascinating trip through the evolution of human thought. Well crafted alphabets such as Hebrew, Greek, Arabic and Syrian have deeper functions than simply conveying words. They convey the essence of sacred sound, number, as well as the origin of change and motion. For instance, symbolic communication is seen in certain ritualistic dancing. Some Asian and Polynesian cultures still practice this art, and the stories the dance depicts are passed on to the next generation. However, to foreign eyes the symbols are only pretty movements and the tale is lost due to lack of translation. This type of symbolic communication through movement is rooted in primal language. Prehistoric tales around the campfire were probably not conveyed using long sentences strung together. It’s much more likely that they consisted mainly of gestures augmented by sound and a few words. This is also the basis of modern sign language. Several modern linguistic historians have explored such ritual gestures as a possible origin of what eventually became the Hebrew language. When gestures are made that imitate the letters which constitute some of the basic words of the Hebrew language, the functional meaning of the word becomes quite clear.

Greek letters also represent numbers. Athena was a virgin goddess and her sacred number was seven, which is a prime number indivisible by any other number. The numbers associated with the Greek letters in her name add up to 77 (length). The letters of her epithet, which is Pallas, equal 343, which is seven cubed (an indication of volume). The letters of her appallation, which is parthenos or virgin, equal 515. The degree angle of a heptagon, a seven sided figure, is 51.5 degrees. This indicates area.

Pictorial based written languages such as those found in China and Japan are purely rooted in symbology. They were first developed to convey whole ideas, not single words or letters. The hieroglyphics of the Egyptian language were much the same. The name of the pharaoh was not nearly as important as the fact that the symbol represented the incarnation of the sun god.

The idea of using symbols and abbreviated text in casual writing may strike Western readers as a lack of discipline or education. However, it may be a sign of the changing times toward a melding of global influence. The well formed alphabets mentioned previously are thousands of years older than the characters and structures used in the English language and they are still living languages today. By using symbols and abbreviations in our everyday English, are we being lazy or are we opening ourselves to a cultural shift in our thinking? Here’s something to consider. It’s very difficult for most folks to think without the use of words. Try it. Now, what if you could think in another language, like Chinese. Perhaps instead of words, you might be able to think in whole concepts or in the fluid waves of motion. What if you try thinking in Greek. Perhaps you could imagine spatial dimensions as well.

The lament presented by Joan and several others is the grieving of loss and an inquiry about the future. In the West, our casual language has infiltrated formal writing for centuries. But, adding or deleting words is very different from changing the basic rules by which we communicate. By incorporating more symbolic language, are we simply adapting to current technology and the accelerated pace of life or are we changing the way we perceive and communicate? I suppose the answer to that question depends on your perspective.

I must say, I agree with the detrimental affect you’re talking about. I typically write all my online messages – be it tweets, Facebook activities, emails, or blog posts/comments – from the standpoint of “WHO might be reading this?” It could be someone for whom English is not their first language. It could be a potential TOP paying client observing me. It could be someone from the media world seeking an interview. We may never know.

But, over-stuffing tweets with too many acronyms could well defeat the purpose of building relationships if people can’t quite understand the message!

Also, from an SEO standpoint, each tweet is a standalone web page and gets indexed by Google. I don’t know that too many searches are being done for “I C U R doing GR8. K, look fwd to tweet U IRL. LMAO!” You get my point, I’m sure.

Thanks again!
Cheers,
Mari
@marismith

For me, Twitter has become a lesson in editing. If I can’t say most of what I have to say in 140 characters or fewer with no more than two symbols, I don’t post it. (I actually spell out most things in text messages because I can’t stand when I get texts that I can’t understand…writing words out is like my own underlying message.)

I stopped following someone on Twitter because I could never understand what he posted. I love the tool, but secretly plead with users to keep their messages concise and written in real English!

I must read like an old grouchy teacher, but hey, I want to know what the Tweeters I follow, have to say!

Not to mention, some of the phone numbers were wrong.

Sometimes fast is too fast. And yes, even on Twitter, if the shortcuts get too short, I un-follow the Twittee.

So this is part of a larger problem. I use Twitter, e-mail and discussion groups every day – with the dreaded terminaology. Yet, I also send formal letters and press releases out written in proper form. I don’t have a problem with it. And I suspect, if people understand when and where it’s approapriate, neither would anyone else.

Meantime – I see a wonderful oportunity for me to teach proper written language in corporate settings!

All best,

Jacqueline Simonds
Beagle Bay, Inc.