What, 'da' .... ??

:-)

Smile.....Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the birth of the now ubiquitous Smiley - "a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis". It was first used as a horizontal "smiley face" in a computer message by Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman.

To quote CNN - "Fahlman posted the emoticon in a message to an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on September 19, 1982, during a discussion about the limits of online humor and how to denote comments meant to be taken lightly."I propose the following character sequence for joke markers: :-)," wrote Fahlman. "Read it sideways.""

Those of course were the days when the internet (or for that matter computers) remained confined to university campuses. Computer labs were as sacrosanct as temples, especially in India. You had to take off your shoes before you could spend a few happy hours inside and come out looking pleased as punch - er, punch cards...

Its difficult to imagine today how different was it then. Internet today is empowering generations and defining new paradigms in our socio-economic life. The smiley has been an integral part of this revolution. It has firmly estabished itself in our electronic lexicon. Millions around the world use the smiley (or its different variations, collectively called emoticons) every day, in their electronic conversations. A perfect example of technology being humanized, perhaps...

The flip side to this sort of language revolution is SMS English, in my opinion. Its origins are obvious - a child of the other major revolution in our day, proliferation of the cellular phone. It is from the widespread usage of text messages from where this trend emerged.

Photo taken at Jungfrau, Switzerland - April, 2005

I consider this form of communication as the bane of our age - it makes my blood boil to see words such as 'n' (and), 'da' (the), 'dis' (this), 'wad' (what), 'fren' (friend) used in written conversations on the internet. Maybe people are plain saving time, or perhaps a silent revolution is underway to eradicate Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from the world.

Or perhaps it is me who is thick headed & old fashioned - because I surely don't understand what charm SMS English brings into the picture. It surely would not have received the blessings of the now tormented souls of Wren & Martin I imagine....

So, perhaps there's more than one facet to every story - ditto for the electronic revolution and its effects. The good, the bad and the 'da' ugly :-)