Ahead of his time

Steve is discussing with his speechwriter how to approach the announcement of a new phone.

...

Steve: How about I begin by comparing telegramese with SMS abbreviations?

Speechwriter: Been done already.

Steve: Uh huh. OK. Um. How about taking snapshots with a Box Brownie compared with snapping friends on your phone and 3Ging them?

Speechwriter: Been done.

Steve: Damn. OK. Instant messaging now superseded by Twitter?

Speechwriter: Been done.

Steve: Just who was it who said all this before me?

Speechwriter: Samuel Butler.

Steve: I wanna meet this guy.

Speechwriter: Bit late. He died 1902.

Steve: Wow. Ahead of his time. Saw it all coming.

...

Short short stories

Deepak, texting a last minute seasons greetings to a relative and being at a loss what write, seeks help from Philip.

Deepak: I'll just say Merry Christmas.
Philip: Pretty banal. Can't you send him some news?
Deepak: What? In an SMS? With a 160 character limit? What could you possibly say?
Philip: Quite a lot. What's your big story today?
Deepak: Ha! Nothing exciting at all. Going to buy a rice cooker.
Philip: Well there you go. Write that.
Deepak: Hmm, just about fits in 160 characters. "Hi Pete. Last minute panic shopping. K. says rice cooker broken, get new one before boarding! Mary Christmas, Harriet Newyear."
Philip: Er, why do you need a new rice cooker so urgently? You eat rice for Christmas?
Deepak: Doesn't everyone?

...

Texting abbreviations

A mini study of TXTing Abbreviations: Interaction of type of device used, multilingualism, and familiarity with topic

Data: SMS exchange between male and female on going to a movie

KC (10:25 AM using Nokia 3650 keypad) Will U chek any movie 2 go with half price?

BN (10:25 AM using O2 handwriting recognition mode) OK

BN (10:55 AM using O2 handwriting recognition mode) Iwo Jima @ 15:10 Botany Downs?

KC (10:59 AM using Nokia 3650 keypad) Nani sore? Japanese?

BN (11:00 AM using O2 handwriting recognition mode) Clint Eastwood director, Excellent reviews, 91% on Rotten Tomatoes!

KC (11:02 AM using Nokia 3650 keypad) Sounds good.

Introduction:

Most PPL abbreviate when they TXT. Are there rules governing what gets abbreviated and what doesn’t?

Discussion:

The exchange took place between a native speaker of Japanese (KC) and native speaker of English (BN). By KC’s own admission, “chek” may be an abbreviation or it may be a spelling error; she can’t remember. Use of preposition “with” instead of “at” is clearly a non-native speaker (NNS) error.

The exchange between two speakers who can use each other’s language often results in code-switching. Note KC’s “Nani sore?” (“What’s that?”), followed by use of the English “Japanese?” (not “Nihongo?”). Curious she elects not to abbreviate “Japanese” to JPNS or something similar. Possibly because switching to capitals for the abbreviation “JPNS” is more troublesome using a cell phone keypad than a keyboard?

The device used may influence use or non-use of abbreviations. Some people often don’t bother with abbreviations using a stylus on the PDA in handwriting recognition mode (unless the message is approaching 160 character single message limit). Hence BN’s fully explicated “Clint Eastwood director, Excellent reviews, 91% on Rotten Tomatoes!” BN commented that he felt abbreviating sometimes requires an extra step in the composition process.

Conclusion:

So is the use of or non-use of abbreviations entirely arbitrary? Probably not. But the influencing factors are multiple and interact and some take precedence over others so defining the rules likely results in a complex model. Future studies could attempt to construct a flow-chart of the decision to abbreviate or not.