Your boss won't remember your name in 20 years—your kids will!
Sept 10, 2008
SUP Dude!
by Southern Programmer
Tags:
I feel old.
Lately the emails I have been getting from some of those young whipper snapper co-workers are dotted with instant messenger lingo.
IE: One co-worker sent an email with the message "I need AFPOE to look this over..."
AFPOE? A friend of Edgar Allen Poe?, A Friendly Person Of England?
So I dumbly replied AFPOE? What are you asking?
The reply came back: A Fresh Pair Of Eyes!
Perhaps I am old fashioned, but I do not like to use lingo when communicating with others. I also find it irritating to see lingo in a business email.
I also think IM Lingo is slowly ruining "Generation X's" ability to communicate.
The other day I was with my youngest daughter when her phone beeped that a text message had arrived from her friend. The 'text conversation' went like this:
Friend: Sup? (Translation - I say, what are you doing right now)
Daughter: N2M SUP U? (Translation - Oh Not Too Much, and what are YOU doing?)
Friend: N/M L8R. (Translation - Nothing Much, I Must Go Now, I shall converse with you later)
Daughter: GB (Translation - Goodbye, It has been nice chatting with you)
I couldn't resist asking my daughter "Why didn't you ask [friends name] how her day was at school?"
My daughter replied "Oh Dad, NO-ONE asks questions like THAT to each other".
More gray hair popped out on my head...
The other night I picked up my oldest daughter from her swim team practice, as I entered the building where the practice is held I found my daughter standing around with a group of her girl friends.
But all I could hear was this:
Dude! Are you serious!?
Dude! (Indiscriminate chatter, either something about a boy or the Flintstones cartoon show)
Duuuudddee!
Dood!? Dooooooodddeee!
Oh Dude! Dood!
I can only imagine the emails that will take place in businesses from these girls.
SouthernProgrammer(09/12/2008)
BPFH - You are correct, I should have said Gen Y.
HaveADamnNiceDay(09/12/2008)
I agree that gen Y is losing its ability to clearly communicate. Can you imagine what kinds of conversations THEIR KIDS are going to have? What if this text-message lingo goes into spoken word?
Can you imagine classical literature translated for these kids?
"Romeo, WFAT?"
HR Hippie(09/12/2008)
Kids are now knowns as "millenials". And it's not just the kids that use net lingo. I've received emails from customers and co-workers that have these ridiculous abbreviations in them. Here's a recent one:
"Could u fax me inv. #99999? Send it 2 999-99-9999".
This, from a 30-something person in another office. I almost cried.
HaveADamnNiceDay(09/13/2008)
I will have to admit, though... I really overuse the word 'dude' when I talk. It's pretty disgusting ^_^
BPFH(09/14/2008)
HaveADamnNiceDay: Dude, what's up with that? ;D (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
As for the ridiculous abbreviations... I can kind of understand them in SMS texts, since you've only got a limited amount of space (~160 characters) and for the most part an awkward interface (cell phone keypad) for that sort of thing. But in cases where you don't have that restriction, like email? Completely annoying. My response to a request like HR Hippie received might have been something like, "Sure, once you tell me who 'u' is, and how I can send something '2' something else."
(Why, yes, I *can* be an annoying SOB. The 'B' in my handle isn't there for nothing, you know. :) )
bittersweet(10/15/2008)
I can relate to that. i have two teenagers, girls! my oldest called me dude a couple of times by accident. But I still try to catch up with their language. There would be days she would leave a message: "yeah, mom, uhh, i'm at my friends, so, dude, call me"
(01/04/2009)
(01/09/2009)
JobSchmobber Community Comments
dontask 0 (09/11/2008)
ROFL
Thanks for the crash course in teenage lingo SP. It's still ahead of me and I am not looking forward to it. It's like learning a new language every few years.
post to digg | 
post to del.icio.us | 
e-mail it
RSS Feed
Like my blog?