English is a fascinating language, convoluted yet able to be twisted into sentences of great beauty. But modern society, like the characters in Tikki Tikki Tembo, is fascinated with decreasing English's complexity by shortening everything into acronyms. Sometimes these are ridiculous, sometimes fun, and sometimes dead on; I'm reminded after watching Frost/Nixon last night of CREEP - the Committee to Re-Elect the President that was involved in the Watergate break in. But they seem to be popping up everywhere in this age of computing.
Sam speaks so much so fast, that's he's decided that his entire language should consist of acronyms. The only problem with this sceme is that the acronyms are completely of his own making. Sometimes, we have no problem figuring out what he's saying:
Joy: "What do you want for lunch today?"
Sam: "M and C."
Joy: "Macaroni and Cheese?"
Sam: vigorous head nod
But sometimes it's a little less clear:
Joy: "What do you want for lunch today?"
Sam: "P"
Joy: "Peanut Butter and Jelly?"
Sam: "No"
Joy: "Pasta?"
Sam: "Nope"
Joy: "Pizza?"
Sam: "Uh-huh."
Joy: "How about some polite words?
He shortens everything now (last night right after crawling in bed, he wanted some "W") and we have no idea where he picked up this habit. But at this point, the next time he asks for "P," he's getting porridge.
Self-doubt in the tech industry
4 months ago
1 comment:
Hilarious. And with the twinz' emerging fascination with letters ("A is for alligator"), I suspect that we'll be there soon, with twice the impact. You could start keeping unusual foods in the house with which to startle Sam. "Pemmican" would probably give him pause before using a single letter to request food via this method a second time...
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