Wednesday 19 May 2010

Texting

Personally, I find texting (sending an SMS for any non-Anglo Saxon readers) about one of the daftest and most inconvenient methods of communication ever invented. God knows why it caught on but my thumb just can't work a phone key-pad - it would be easier etching hieroglyphs in a tablet of wet clay with a stylus of goose feather. And predictive texting doesn't really work for me either although it has given rise to one of the funniest comedy sketches ever:-



STOP PRESS - last time I tried to predictively text the word "shit" (on the rare occasions I do text, it tends to come up), I was indeed offered "shiv" (an improvised knife like object as in "I despatched the blackguard with my shiv") or "pigt" (the acronym for the phosphate thingy enzyme). But tonight, I tried it and it does offer "shit" first with "shiv" and "pigt" as second and third choices - annoying if you're wanting to text someone about a blackguard despatching or microbiology breakthrough, though ...

 

How did I get on to this? Oh yes! Text messages! We've suddenly become great fans of them. Well receiving them anyway. One of the websites our holiday apartment is advertised with sends you a text if anyone makes an enquiry. So as we're rather sad old people that no-one else texts, whenever the phone chirps we know it's an enquiry. Which is nice.


Unless, of course, it's bastard PT Communicações (the Portuguese equivalent of BT) with an unsolicited text (or worse, phone call) trying to sign me up to one of their deals which actually ends up costing you more. V tempted to pay a call to PTC armed with a shiv and drop a bag of pigt down their chimney.

3 comments:

Marisa said...

This is a truly LOL situation (I don't like to use it). The new gadgets tend to be smarter than the owners. Well, I can write in my phone the equivalent word in portuguese with no problem...

Kathie said...

While I thoroughly understand why Neil & Carol need texting, because of inquiries from potential tourists re their guest house, I'm just glad I don't need to text. Am also glad not to have a cell-phone -- what you call a mobile, I believe -- because I've simply lost patience with being a slave to communications gadgets; I got so tired in the workplace of figuratively having to say, "How high." whenever I was told to jump. Guess I'm just gettin' old :-)))


Marisa, will you or your family be attending any events at the upcoming Jeux des Iles in PDL? I gather there will be young athletes from some 20 or so island jurisdictions coming to the host Azores -- sounds like fun!

Kathie said...

How 'bout Fergie's shakedown attempt? I wonder how many previous ones have been successful. BTW, some pundit on radio here is claiming she's not actually broken any British law! How saith the Scottish lawyers?

Here's my favorite article on the story (the equivalent of America's "The Onion," perhaps?):
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/celebrity/sarah-ferguson-claims-prince-andrew-does-something-201005242759

Just in case the URL doesn't appear properly, here 'tis line by line, so one can copy/paste the parts into the window:
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/
news/celebrity/sarah-ferguson-
claims-prince-andrew-does-
something-201005242759