Some friends were rather pleased to receive a hand written letter this week; yes, a hand written letter!
They were both amazed and excited, and I have to say I understand their feelings. I cannot remember the last time I had the fun of trying to decipher the scrawl of another human being.
Most communications these days are either computer generated being sent by email or text. The language and writing style in these new forms of dialogue are often completely different than the more traditional style.
Mrs Molineaux’s youngest, who is fully versed in this new condensed messaging system, got me thinking the other day. She was sending a message via her mobile phone and asked ‘How do you spell………?’
Herein lies the problem; she wanted to know how to express the noise you make when you are offering sympathy or emotional agreement. The sound that phonetically sounds like the word ‘or’ but with more of an ‘a’ sound in it.
She tried Ah but that can sound like an expression of surprise. Her sisters joined the conversation and offered Argh then realised that it sounded like what you would shout if you had trapped your finger in a draw. Apparently the inclusion of the letter ‘g’ makes it a harder sound.
The eventually settle on Aaaaaaah which, to my mind, still has the potential to lead to confusion.
Such is the world of the mobile phone conversation. Even though they have the facility for what is known as predictive text (it guesses the word you want as you start to enter the first few letters), we still feel the need to shorten words and phrases.
Using the number 4 instead of taking hours typing the three letters FOR is a favourite. Time is of the essence it seems because it is not unusual to receive a message containing ‘NE’ as a replacement for ‘ANY’. It hardly seems worth the effort. Daughter number three answered one of my messages with a simple Gr8 to let me know that my suggestion was, in fact, GREAT. Marvellous!
Some of this is a generational thing and I can see a difference in the way I type these quick messages compared with my daughters. This said, my mother, who is in her seventies types text messages in a different way than my generation. She still insists on including correct punctuation; something that must take her a long time to do.
The whole thing is set to cause generational confusion I am sure. A male colleague recently sent me a joke via my mobile phone and ended the text with ‘lol’.
I was surprised if not a little scared because had always understood this to mean lots of love. I mean, I appreciated his friendship but I wasn’t ready for such shows of emotion.
When I asked him about his greeting he informed me that the youth of today have now redesignated lol to mean Laugh Out Loud.
Argh!
When lol means laugh out loud
Robin Hood Stateside
We have just been invited to visit America by some friends. Naturally we are thrilled at the possibility and it has produced a flourish of internet activity by my wife and I looking for info on holidaying in Florida.
Mrs M started her search by looking for clothing recommendations for sub-tropical climes and then planning shopping expeditions to prepare for the adventure.
I, on the other hand, wanted to ensure that I was ahead of the game when it comes to all things guitar related; this is after all the home of the Gibson Les Paul and the Fender Strat.
Visiting a new place has all the potential for both adventure and culture shock so we are right to prepare.
Some years ago we became friends with an American couple living in the UK. They were stationed here by the USA air force and were determined to make the most of their time here in Blighty.
As part of their induction they were given instruction on how to understand British culture. Needless to say the details were wildly general and over stated.
One of the main areas of confusion was related to the amount of space we live in; or lack of it. Whereas stateside they have the luxury of almost 10 million square kilometres on which to house their 300 million inhabitants, we have only a quarter of a million km for our 60 million residents; hence their conception that we are a densely populated isle with very little room to move.
There are times, when stuck in traffic at the Saltaire round-a-bout, that I feel there assessment may be correct.
Still we are heading across the pond to see the land of the free; I wonder what mistaken views we might have built up over the years.
I tend to think of long dusty roads and small one-street towns, but then I grew up watching old western movies. I know too that there are skyscrapers and yellow taxis, as well as large canyons and giant redwood trees.
Of course we get most of our views from the movies and the TV so it is hardly surprising that we believe certain inaccuracies. Hollywood, and perhaps Elstree too, have a lot to answer for here.
Some years ago Kevin Costner treated us to his Nottinghamshire/Californian accent whilst playing Robin Hood in a major motion picture.
Other than the stars verbal mismatch the film holds tight to historical accuracy by showing Costner and Morgan Freeman returning to England via the White Cliffs of Dover then, after walking along Hadrian’s Wall, arriving at Sherwood Forest; the only way to travel through this land I think.
I hope our journey to Florida doesn’t take equally preposterous diversions. In order to fit in I might practice my east coast accent (Florida not Norfolk). Well it can’t be any worse than Robin Hood sounding like a prairie cattle rancher.
Whichever way we travel I must try to avoid the Saltaire round-a-bout.
Credit Crunch
In these days of our credit being crunched we all have to make little sacrifices. I for example am committed to making sure that we consume all of the food in the house before we shop for more.
When I announced my plan to the female members of the family it was treated with a high degree of derision.
I don’t know what they are complaining about we did this every year when we went camping; its amazing how breakfast cereal can bulk out a curry on the last night of a holiday.
I searched through the kitchen and found several tins that seemed to have been in the cupboard for years; mackerel fillets, pears, luncheon meat, sweet corn, and kidney beans. I can’t remember the last time I bought sweet corn and yet there always seems to be a tin in the cupboard.
I have to admit that I couldn’t find a suitable recipe to include them all so we had an omelette made with the eggs that were seconds from their sell by date.
For dessert I offered them crushed ginger snap biscuits heated with butter, topped with ice cream and toffee sauce, which everyone agreed, proved a great success.
During my search I discovered a new taste sensation that the rest of the family were quick to turn their noses up at. It was a combination of two of my favourite tastes that, coincidently, the rest of the family cannot abide.
Liquorice pieces dipped in Marmite.
I accept that some of you will be immediately disgusted by such a thought. But there will be some, just a few, who will find the whole idea intriguing and will be rushing to the kitchen to test it out.
My wife, ever the wit, patted me on my extra sized tummy and questioned whether it was pregnancy cravings.
I have a friend who has admitted to also being conscious of the need to make savings in their weekly grocery bill. He has, however, upset his wife in the process.
Being a keen fisherman he knows the intricacies of finding the best bate for successful angling. He slipped up by admitting that although he has made the sacrifice of buying the cheapest sweet corn for the family cupboard he has continued to buy the premium brand for his favourite hobby.
It seems that saving money is important but we all need the opportunity of making a luxury decision now and again. In light of this I suggested that each family member had the chance to nominate a couple things that would not be sacrificed as part of our economy drive.
The list included such minor luxuries as coffee and breakfast cereal but there were a few items that the female members of clan Molineaux were agreed on: Tomato Sauce, Shampoo, and Tea bags.
As for me; I was happy to concede that although most value options were worth trying I was adamant that neither Marmite nor liquorice would be sacrificed. I have my standards!
