…The subject of this morning’s missive from the massive.
I bet you’re confused already.
It’s just past 4am and I’ve had some caffeine and I’ve been thinking about language, its origins and the development of new words and phrases which could have a logical formal use but are currently ambiguous and also grammar’s future evolution in the computer age when it is far easier to communicate with total strangers globally in typically American English.
This post may seem rambling (that’s a British idiom which brings me on to my first point).
If I’m trying to make a serious point I try to write formally, however if I’m larking around (another British idiom) I frequently use idiom and slang and even invent my own words and phrases for fun (missive from the massive anyone? I know what I mean, do you? It’s a mixture of an outdated English word and modern black British slang which means ‘today’s post’).
And here is my second point, the word thang. It’s African American apparently and means exactly the same as thing.
But then could thang and thing develop into two formal words with distinct meanings based on current usage. I therefore propose that thang could formally become defined as a preference or emotion and thing as a physical object.
But now onto the most interesting point to my mind, hierographics (another word I invented this morning, think emoticons in mobile phone text messages 😉 becoming formal symbols in punctuation).
I contribute to a number of chat rooms with people that are total strangers but without the intonation, emotion or body language possible if speaking face to face that would help convey the intent and meaning behind their words. In these chat rooms I sometimes have trouble working out whether people are being serious or joking, sarcastic, condescending or friendly. That’s where emoticons help a lot, the smiley face, the winking face, the raging anger face.
That’s where I thought new formal punctuation symbols could help in the internet age. I thought of two simple ones; parenthesis () rotated through 90 degrees to convey happiness or unhappiness. There must be some other useful ones.
An addendum: I frequently post youtube links on my blog, most of the time they’re not important but every now and then watching them is, because they’re the subject of the post.
Robert David Jackson
I've Got Summink to Say 