Return-Path: Received: from rly-dd06.mx.aol.com (rly-dd06.mail.aol.com [172.19.141.153]) by air-dd08.mail.aol.com (v121_r4.4) with ESMTP id MAILINDD082-b7f497af6f21f1; Sat, 24 Jan 2009 06:09:55 -0500 Received: from post.thorcom.com (post.thorcom.com [193.82.116.20]) by rly-dd06.mx.aol.com (v121_r4.4) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINDD061-b7f497af6f21f1; Sat, 24 Jan 2009 06:09:48 -0500 Received: from majordom by post.thorcom.com with local (Exim 4.14) id 1LQgNk-0000HS-2a for rs_out_1@blacksheep.org; Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:08:56 +0000 Received: from [83.244.159.144] (helo=relay3.thorcom.net) by post.thorcom.com with esmtp (Exim 4.14) id 1LQgNf-0000HJ-O8 for rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org; Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:08:53 +0000 Received: from mhost01h.leeds.ac.uk ([129.11.77.238]) by relay3.thorcom.net with esmtp (Exim 4.63) (envelope-from ) id 1LQgNZ-0007sc-2v for rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org; Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:08:45 +0000 Received: from APOLLO1.ds.leeds.ac.uk (apollo1.leeds.ac.uk [129.11.5.4]) by mhost01h.leeds.ac.uk (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id n0OB71Kb029908 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=AES128-SHA bits=128 verify=NOT) for ; Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:08:15 GMT Received: from dexbr1.ds.leeds.ac.uk (129.11.76.19) by APOLLO1.ds.leeds.ac.uk (129.11.5.4) with Microsoft SMTP Server id 8.1.311.2; Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:08:10 +0000 Received: from HERMES4.ds.leeds.ac.uk ([129.11.5.130]) by dexbr1.ds.leeds.ac.uk with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959); Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:08:10 +0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.5 Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message MIME-Version: 1.0 Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:08:10 +0000 Message-ID: <731EB49F88B309428FFDDD2423F810E441C4A1@HERMES4.ds.leeds.ac.uk> X-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: <731EB49F88B309428FFDDD2423F810E441C4A1@HERMES4.ds.leeds.ac.uk> Thread-Topic: Morse, English and abbreviations Thread-Index: Acl9hi9SDbuAG8DOTz6yWzTrZU1u4QAidmpl References: <005c01c97cbf$958ccc00$0301a8c0@mal769a60aa920> <008101c97d76$b4eb1d10$6401a8c0@asus> <007701c97d85$6b497b70$0301a8c0@mal769a60aa920> From: Chris Trayner To: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 24 Jan 2009 11:08:10.0443 (UTC) FILETIME=[0AEBA1B0:01C97E14] X-Spam-Score: 0.0 (/) X-Spam-Report: autolearn=disabled,none Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C97E14.0AB9F236" Subject: LF: Morse, English and abbreviations X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on post.thorcom.com X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.0 required=5.0 tests=none autolearn=no version=2.63 X-SA-Exim-Scanned: Yes Sender: owner-rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org Precedence: bulk Reply-To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org X-Listname: rsgb_lf_group X-SA-Exim-Rcpt-To: rs_out_1@blacksheep.org X-SA-Exim-Scanned: No; SAEximRunCond expanded to false X-AOL-IP: 193.82.116.20 X-Mailer: Unknown (No Version) ------_=_NextPart_001_01C97E14.0AB9F236 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Mal, Thanks again for your thoughts. > It used to be that a class A amateur had an advantage over the general pu= blic by being able to converse in morse code, just like another language exc= ept it was totally international. Morse certainly has many advantages, but remember that it's not a language a= s such: it's a sort of alphabet to represent languages. For instance your Morse is far better than mine, but if I sent you .- .-.. .. --.. . .-.. .. - . -.- .- ...- --- would you pop round for some? (I admit that's not quite right, as I don't kn= ow how to put the accent over the Z and I've forgotten the Morse for questio= n mark.) A knowledge of the Q code allows you to hold rubber-stamp QSOs with people w= ho don't speak your language, but not to chew the rag over (e.g.) what you t= hink of the new US president or what's happening on Coronation Street. > Even a worse senario, a lot of persons today cannot write, the norm is to=20= use a keypad and send text messages using some abbreviated gibbirish, gramma= r is not required, sort of pigeon english.=20 The standard of English of school leavers certainly is a problem today, at l= east in Britain. However, no-one's perfect: for example it's gibberish not gibbirish, and Eng= lish not english. As for grammar, I'm afraid your sentence structure punctuation leave "sort o= f pigeon english" as a major clause, which needs a verb to be grammatical ;-= ( We all write in abbreviations at times. (Before anyone takes Mal to task for pigeon, I checked with the Concise Oxfo= rd and it gives pigeon as a perfectly acceptable alternative to pidgin.) The abbreviated forms one reads sometimes irritate me too, but I can underst= and the logic. I think these derive from sending TXTs (used to be called SMS= s) on mobile phones. If I had to send much from a keyboard with 12 keys to r= epresent all the letters, digits and punctuation marks I'd start abbreviatin= g, I think. Nor is this new: telegraphese started with telegrams, to keep th= e word count down (for financial reasons in that case). Nearer to home, Mors= e operators use a wide range of abbreviations which must be gibberish to out= siders: not just the Q code, but many others such as ES for AND, and HI whic= h apparently doesn't refer to how tall something is ;-) Languages evolve, and the test tends to be "Does it work?" We shall see whet= her TXTese (so to speak) is here to stay or turns out to be a ten-year fad. 73, Chris G4OKW ------_=_NextPart_001_01C97E14.0AB9F236 Content-Type: application/ms-tnef; name="winmail.dat" Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 eJ8+IgsLAQaQCAAEAAAAAAABAAEAAQeQBgAIAAAA5AQAAAAAAADoAAEIgAcAGAAAAElQTS5N aWNyb3NvZnQgTWFpbC5Ob3RlADEIAQ2ABAACAAAAAgACAAEEgAEAIQAAAE1vcnNlLCBFbmds aXNoIGFuZCBhYmJyZXZpYXRpb25zAPgLAQWAAwAOAAAA2QcBABgACwAIAAoABgAcAQEggAMA DgAAANkHAQAYAAsACAAKAAYAHAEBCYABACEAAAAzMTM4MDQ5QTJGMjQ3MzQ2ODYyODdGRTc3 OUUwNTVDQwAFBwEDkAYAGA8AADkAAAADACYAAAAAAAMANgAAAAAAQAA5ADbyuQoUfskBHgA9 AAEAAAABAAAAAAAAAAIBRwABAAAAOQAAAGM9dXM7YT0gO3A9VW5pdmVyc2l0eSBvZiBMZTts PUhFUk1FUzQtMDkwMTI0MTEwODEwWi02MTA0AAAAAB4ASQABAAAAIAAAAExGOiBSZTogUkU6 IE1vcnNlIGNvZGUgbGlmZWxpbmUAQABOAICeo2qFfckBHgBaAAEAAAAjAAAAb3duZXItcnNn Yl9sZl9ncm91cEBibGFja3NoZWVwLm9yZwAAAgFbAAEAAABjAAAAAAAAAIErH6S+oxAZnW4A 3QEPVAIAAAAAb3duZXItcnNnYl9sZl9ncm91cEBibGFja3NoZWVwLm9yZwBTTVRQAG93bmVy 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