Booby
Where did the word booby come from?
And, why all the interest in this word 
For a discussion about the German word bübbi, alx does a very good
explanation about it here.
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Posted on March 9, 2008 · Filed Under Lessons
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Lol! Love the outtakes at the end. In fact, as a newbie, I’m lovin’ it all! Intelligence really IS sexy!
Hm, I never heard of the word bübbi or what else, I´m German and the only thing I can say it that you mabe can say sing.: bubi plur.: bubies for a Womans breast. In real there exist Bube=a small boy, mother slang=for my baby- or more-(it depends on…) ( joke by Womans that say “ooh my poor bubi” to their Boyfriend, this pulls him in a state fo a little child and his face turns out like this—
because big mom jokes her kid )….(at a Womans breast you normaly say bubies, the two round bongolos, looking good 
, going woop woop up and down…. Mabe he missed them and says hello after a long-term “unemployment”, Womans mostly like that, because he concentrates at two points at this moment. It is for the favor or if Womans crossed you and your friends you just say “hey, did you saw those bubies ?” —- mostly when they were a little bigger than the daily ones)
if he understands jokes, but we all know…. !!!) (other way — Mother calls her son “bubi”, it is the same way then before “ooh my bubi”, mothers do it when they did something fine/right…, or also joke him when he can´t understand when something happened or he can´t have this or that…. and he can´t understand why, at this point he mostly turns out to get mad
I hope you can read this, I´m looking forward to get my English writing done
.
Marina, sorry that I have to tell you that you spelled bubi wrong, but you can do that, it won´t go after you (it is spelled as it is written, but not the english b=b(e) and the english i=(e)i, just b and i, bubi).
Yesterday, I took notice of my friend’s T-shirt. On it was written;
“I love Boobies”. Then, underneath that was a picture of a Booby bird, just like the one in your video. Then, underneath that was the word,
Galapagos Island.
Here is a similar image of another T-shirt.
I had a funny thought. What if you made a similar T-Shirt, and then
underneath it, it would say HotForWords.com, and then, underneath it, it would say, “Etymology is Sexy, Don’t Think Otherwise” or something like that. In the videos it said, “Intelligence is Sexy, Don’t Think Otherwise”
Then, for everyone on YT that made a remark about boobs, you would respond and say, “Either shut up or pay up”, and point them to the ordering page of the T-shirt. If everyone bought a shirt, that should make you gazillions, or at least cover server costs.
Imagine if there were a YouTube jail, and someone had to pay for a T-shirt to get out. Sometimes I just amuse myself too much.
Darn, the voting on possible HFW products had T-shirts coming
in at 16%.
because when u get stuck in one u feel real stupid
its called a booby trap, meaning a dunce or stupid people trap.
probly theyre stupid so they fall into the trap
Ok, you did the word boobie, now would you do the word cock? Lol, I am of course referring to the rooster. How did the rooster come to be known as a cock, and futhermore, how did it get a more vulgar and… adult meaning?
TV is called the BOOB tube because of shows like Charlie’s Angels and Baywatch
Booby trap would be my hands or mouth * no WAIT * that is a different lesson .. a trap so obvious and easy to spot that it could only trap the dunce.
I’m new to the site and probably a little late for the topic but I always figured the breast connotation of the word “booby” came from bubo (a word used to describe a swollen lymph node or round, subcutaneous lump).
Anyway, I really enjoy your lessons and look forward to seeing more in the future.
I’d hate to sound like a degenerate (hope i spelled that right), but this is one of my favorite lessons. Would you think about doing a lesson on the word degenerate, since I went and brought it up?
Marina,
I think the origin of the word “boob-tube” is a reference to two different things. Of course, refering to the tv, the word boob-tube comes from two slang terms. One, which you mentioned (boob) refers to an idiot or stupid person. The second, tube, refers to the tube (cathode ray tube) which is found inside the television casing. That’s my guess anyway.
Here is something you might like to look up.
Did idiot-box originate from boob-tube?
i think booby-trap might be like a stupid trap or a a poor trap which might not work as much
ps. I just got done watching your video upside down (as I do all your vids.. don’t ask)… and now I want to know where “poop” comes from.
POOP
Thanks for the mention! I have arrived! (non-sexually that is). This is academia people!!
I think Booby-Trap is a trap meant to snare dolts, idiots and dunces. In short, booby traps are designed for Suckers. Wait, so are bubbi’s. Crap.
Excuse me while I go down to the garden and eat some worms.
ps. Did you look into Cranky? Is the history worthy of Investigation? or Butterfly?
Hey Marina, What do you call an Italian with a rubber toe?
Roberto!
Please do flash your boobies a little more in your videos please.
hey teach,
that was a great lesson and diffently got a 5 star vote from me. ( inside joke hope u get it)
Hi Marina,
I felt cheated that I didn’t find out what the -licious part of boobalicious was all about. Since I am learning so much as your student I decided to try to find out for myself. It seems that licious might be a corruption of the O.E. luscious which is also close to the O.E. kicorous or lickerish meaning dainty. Perhaps it is more related to the Cheshire licksome meaning pleasant.
In Ger. lecker, Fr. lecheur, lecher, A. Sax. liccera having the meaning of a gourmand, glutton-one who licks his lips It. lussare, lussuriare, which is to grow rank, orig. to live in voluptuosness or luxury.
So I am guessing that boobalicious is either a dumb person who is quite tasty or someone who is luscious like a pair of ample breasts must seem to be to a young suckling baby or yet perhaps to the student of a well endowed teacher.
The earliest mention I could find was the following:
The source I used to look this up in was:
Folk-etymology: A Dictionary of Verbal Corruptions Or Words Perverted in Form or Meaning by False Derivation or Mistaken Analogy
By Abram Smythe Palmer 1883 pages 226-7
Your energetic student,
gibbym
hello, marina. i am 偶爱偶家(blogger of http://blog.2i2j.com), i am sorry you have problem with wp thread comment, but i don’t know what was problem happening. i test it my blog, it work very well.
can you deliver wp thread comment which you use now. i will check it.
and can you reply this comment that send me an email that you reply with wp thread comment, i can see your reply in my email so i will know phenomenon which [postname] doesn’t work.
thank you!
@marina, i recieve your reply email. it is not include post title.
can you mail me wp thread comment option that you are setting that must copy from wp thread comment option page.
and mail me zipped version of all of the plugin. and tell me your wp version and the other plugins you are using.
i will test in local to check the problem. thank you!
hello, marina. please check your email. i ask some questions in email. thanks
So that’s where the problem is. Do you know how to fix it?
hello, marina, i email you include a new version. that you replace 1.4.3. and test it. i think now you can select everyone email rule and [postname] will work. thanks very much!
hello, marina
i send you an email that include a new version wp thread comment.
please help me to test, thanks!
hello, marina. above i say i send you an email. but the mail can’t deliver to you. can you communicate me after reading, thanks
I tried my Homework:
booby trap because its a very simple trap, which can be made and installed also by “booby” people
Tha’ts my best guess without research or investiagtion.
Am i right? Am i?
I´m another german speaking student.
I´ve never heard of a word like “bübbi”.
But thanks for your videos!
“bübbi” appears to be german or swiss german.
see here.
also, check out grimm’s wörterbuch, “bübbi” is listed there.
she’s right.
argh. wtf.
second link.
Yeah, it’s a dialect, so you may not know it.
Booby Trap is probably a way to catch less intelligent persons. I love the videos.
quite impressive your spanish pronunciation is really good
Word Request:
I often like to spend my time solving different types of puzzles. Everything from crosswords and cryptograms to sudoku and anagrams. Sometimes I even make up a few new puzzles for my friends.
Could you explain the origin of the word “Puzzle” ?
And what about the origin of “Enigma” ?
Hi Marina,
I’m a student from Austria. In your video you say Booby comes from the german
word bübbi. Well, we speak german here in Austria (or it sounds like something very similar 
), but I don’t know the word “bübbi”. There is the word “bubi”, but that means little boy. Could you please clear things up?
Thanks a lot for your very instructive videos!
LLS71
P.S.: I also have a word request: where do dance and ballet come from?
It’s a dialect of German, so not all German speakers will know it.
Hi Qermaq,
that’s interesting. Where do they say “bübbi” to a womans breasts? I mean, in which region of Germany/Austria/Switzerland?
lls,
according to one of the language maps in one of my books, “bübbi” doesn’t really exist anymore. I did find “büa” in the southwest region of germany. maybe “bübbi” is still used as a diminutive in some small regions.
some dialects tend to be conservative, they keep hold of archaic words.
here’s again the link to the entry of “bübbi” in grimm’s dictionary. it’s listed there, so we can assume that it was pretty common in the 19th century and earlier.
a google search pulled up 627 entries. not that much, eh? I found “bübbi” as a dialect word in the east of germany (saxony, yay :D) — but it means “puppet”, “puppe” in german. maybe the way from “puppe” to “bübbi” (today!) goes something like this:
puppe –> pubbe –> bubbe –> bubbi (diminutive) –> bübbi.
“puppe” is standard german. the consonant change (p –> b) is owed to the dialect spoken in this region. (this is where I come from, so I know what I’m talking about, you’ll never hear me talking like that, though, hehe.)
btw, the vowel change (”umlaut”) a –> ä, u –> ü, and o –> ö is pretty common in german:
haus (singular, ‘house’) –> häuser (plural)
brust (sing., ‘breast’) –> brüste (pl.)
nuss (sing., ‘nut’) –> nüsse (pl.)
kuss (sing., ‘kiss’) –> küsse (pl.)
fuß (sing., ‘foot’) –> füße (pl.)
horn (sing., ‘horn’) –> hörner (pl.)
does that help?
another thought occurs!
“püppi” is diminutive of “puppe”. (btw, “puppe” does not only refer to “puppet”, but it also means “chick” (that’s colloguial)).
so, another way to get “bübbi” from “puppe” is this:
puppe –> püppi –> bübbi. (as for consonant change, see above — in saxon, unvoiced consonants (such as p, t, k …) mostly change to voiced consonants (b, d, g …)).
a vowel change to get the diminutive, just like the plural, of a word is not uncommon:
haus –> häuschen
kuss –> küsschen
horn –> hörnchen
but, the whole puppet thing applies to modern german.
k?
Hi alx,
thanks for the detailed reply!
Just a quick remark.
The better translation for Puppe would be doll in this case. And Püppi meaning just dolly then.
Just thought I would add that.
yeah, you’re right. sometimes you don’t see the wood for the trees or something. forgot about different translations. thanks for adding it.
Hey, Marina, I’m a huge fan…another interesting lesson from a teacher who clearly has subject knowledge!
I have another word request for you, I’m with emjay I’d like to know where some of the slang words for jail come from (pokey, or slammer, etc.) Do you know what the answer to that might be?
I’d imagine the “slammer” comes from the sound of a prison cell door closing. The “pokey”? I have a theory, but I’m reluctant to discuss that.
eric,
a few years ago, there was an important linguistic differentiation regarding language. there were two, and only two, categories: spoken language and written language.
that changed as soon as there were chats. what category does a chat conversation belong to? that was a problem, because this new language had features of written language (e.g. you had to type), and of spoken language (e.g. communication in realtime) as well. so, those two categories were not the only two categories anymore. a category that stands in between spoken language and written language. as in every language system, there are rules. rules / structures in spoken language differ from the rules in written language. so do the rules in chat communication. all of a sudden there were a whole bunch of acronyms. those acronyms made conversations easier, faster. it just takes longer to type “read the fucking manual” instead of “rtfm”. so, it was also a question of efficiency. plus, there had a new way to be found to express emotions and the like. that was how ”
” and “lol” came about. non-verbal communication is being expressed as well: *rolleyes* etc.
there’s a great article by elke hentschel. it’s a short one, if you’re interested in chat analysis (this article is about chat communications on irc), I suggest you give it a shot and read it.
here are a few quotes:
“What happens here is most interesting: we find a sort of phonetical spelling which takes into account all the contractions that are typical for colloquial [lamguage], but not - yet - allowed to be written down.
The [...] IRC’ers apply a way of spelling that probably will sooner or later be “official” as well.
[...] one thing is obvious: the way IRC’ers use and spell their language shows very realistically the way in which the language is used in actual everyday conversation, and the way speakers feel about morphological borders.
[...]
We might conclude, therefore, that IRC provides a means of getting first hand information about speakers attitudes towards the phonetical, phonological and morphological - and of course syntactic - facts of their languages, and therefore enables insights in actual processes of language change.”
now, same thing more or less goes for text messages. it’s about efficiency. not only that you might want to reply quickly, the space to transfer your thoughts is limited.
I don’t think it’s appropriate, or even right, or fair, to compare chat language with written language. it’s an entirely different universe. you can’t apply the same standard to chat language as you apply to written language.
you know, if language was a country, it’d be the most democratic country in the world. language changes! new language systems have been set up! it’s interesting! you’ve never seen a language system and its rules evolve so rapidly!
I agree wholeheartedly, alx. And in chats and text messages, using acronyms and shorthand is expected and appropriate. What bothers me is the bleeding of chat/text shorthand into the written word (letters and emails), as well as the overwhelming inability of individuals to put together coherent thoughts in the English language.
It’s a pet peeve of mine that people write emails and letters with chat/text usage and general sloppiness. I mean, please, use spell check. Most email programs put a little red line under words that one is probably spelling wrong and little green lines under incorrect grammar. I wish people would just fix it.
I think it’s important because the sloppiness in general letters and emails ends up bleeding through to things like cover letters, resumes, business and legal memos, and the like. It also implies disrespect of the recipient of a communication, who is forced to wade through poor spelling, jumbled syntax, and disjointed thoughts. It says to the recipient, “You figure out what I’m trying to say. I’m too busy to make it easy for you.” I don’t apply that to text messaging and instant messaging, though.
Eric
I am a pedant when it comes to spelling and grammar, but I am also quite human and tend to screw things up quite a bit. If I know this has got to be right, no one will fix it down the road, I am extra careful. But in informal emails, texts, brief memos, etc., I’m not so diligent because I know I don’t have to be.
But, I agree, young people should be trained in accurate writing, and be expected to achieve that. Otherwise we’ll be old and a generation of sloppy citizens will be managing our health care, pensions and 401K’s.
have you ever heard of the spelling society?
maybe you’re interested in “Overcomng Orthografic Frontirs“. hehe.
It is a new frontier for linguists but one of the challenges is the anonymity of the performers. It is very difficult to collect cultural data that places the performers into context. Various research methods have produced conflicting results regarding gender, age, etc…
A battered looking Kelly hobbled into the bar on one crutch and a cast on his arm.
“My God, what happened to you?” asked the bartender.
“I got into a tiff with Riley,” Kelly replied.
“Riley?” He’s just a wee fellow,” the surprised barkeep said. “He must have had something in his hand.”
“Aye, that he did,” Kelly said. “A shovel it was!”
“Dear Lord,” exclaimed the bartender. “Did you not have anything in your hand?”
“Aye, that I did … Mrs. Riley’s right boob,” Kelly explained. “A beautiful thing it was, but not much use in a fight!”
And God created woman and she had three breasts. God then asked the woman, “Is there anything you would like to have changed?”
“Yes,” the woman replied. “Could you get rid of this middle breast?”
And so it was done.
Holding the third breast in her hand, the woman exclaimed, “What can be done with this useless boob?”
And God created man.
Hi Marina,
Fabulous lesson, of course. And, you look beautiful, as always.
For my homework assignment, I will explain why a “booby trap” is called a “booby trap”:
A “trap” in the sense of a “booby trap” is “any device, stratagem, trick, or the like for catching a person unawares.” The word trap originated before the year 1000 AD and is from the middle English trappe and trappen, which in turn derived from the Old English træppe and Middle Dutch trappe. You’ve explained the origin of the word “booby’ which originated as the term for a dunce or foolish person. The words were combined to form the word “booby trap” which is a device, strategem, trick or the like for catching a dunce or foolish person unawares.
Typically, booby traps were traps set in war in a place that would be prone to lure an enemy soldier into setting it off. For example, a soldier might put an explosive under a helmet or a canteen, or something at which the enemy soldier might poke around, thereby setting off the explosive. In other words, if the other soldier is a “booby” he will be too stupid to avoid the “trap.” Hence, it is called a “booby trap.”
There are also some bars/entertainment establishments called the “Booby Trap,” but I speculate that the origin of that name may have something more to do with the second meaning you discussed in your video…..
Booby-Trap is just another word for brazeire.
Marina
I was gonna ask about one word but these are two similar words.I want to know the origin of words dude-pal.(sorry if i made any mistakes but i’m Greek so….u understand)
Thanx!!!!
Radical_X
I would like to know the origin of the word./ phrase boiler-plate.
spaciba
danzig387
Marina
I think it would be so named because only a boob (stupid person) could fall for a trap as such
red
“Let’s look at the word booby…” Ya, let’s. LOL
“Booby is also slang for a woman’s breast.” It is? Wow. I mean, WOW!
Very humorous lesson. Gotta love the prop humor and as well as the excellent word choice by our trusty busty teacher. Marina speaks with such conviction and authority on the subject. Ample authority and firm conviction.
Am I busted yet? 
All I can say is if that is Marina’s jogging outfit she has on, you better stay out of her way if you see her jogging your way. I’d save your word request for another time if that happens, as it might be dangerous to interrupt her en route. Then again, what a way to go… death by sports bra.
On a slightly more serious note, television is indeed the boob tube, and it is going the way of the dodo bird. I’ve never been all that much into television, except for some public television, as it truly is aimed towards the lowest common denominator. If you have never seen the movie ‘Network’, it’s all about television, and is considered one of the best movies made. Even though made in the late 1970’s, it is still very relevant today when it comes to what television is about. I prefer the internet where I can control my own content and find cool things like Hot For Words, which I somehow found on youtube and originally viewed as I was curious about it’s title. There’s so much out there if you go looking for it… the American television model of planting yourself in front of the boob tube and expecting everything to come to you is old hat. Too many people are ignorant of how the internet has surpassed television as a viewing outlet. But that will change in time.
On a parting note, where’s that huge great dane from the other HFW videos? Was it traded for a smaller pink-eared model? I guess that dane was just from one of Marina’s modeling sessions, but for some reason I thought I saw a video in which she said it was hers. And maybe I jest, or maybe I was fooled, but I thought it;s name was Harlequin. Whoever that great dane belongs to, and whatever it’s name, it looked pretty cool, especially if was a big male dane. I like to playfight with a friend of mine’s full grown male pitbull, and it is a lot of fun because it is just play even though it always looks like something akin lion-taming to others watching the man vs dog ‘fight’. If introduced as a friend to most dogs, they will play or playfight with a human like they do with other dogs. It’s fun with the bigger dogs, to me at least, because all dogs like to play like that without really biting hard or hurting their playmate. Being animals, real fights for them are dangerous and serious, but playfighting is part of their nature as a way of testing toughness. The males especially love it, and it is surprising how gentle they can be as they make sure not to bite down too hard on the human they are friendly too. Really quite amazing aspect to dogs, IMHO. Anyway, that’s what I think of when I think of that great dane, as it looks like it’d be fun to playfight with. Only now it’s shrunken and pink-eared… I better go easy on it. ; )
Thanks for the amusing booby video, Marina. It was quite ‘licious too. Another job well done by our busty Hot For Words. Okay, now I’m busted… Peace, Errin : )
I thought as much. Somehow I knew you’d go for the big dog.
I guess that photo shot of you and your doggie from the video lesson must be your own personal pet photo. How cute.
Thanks for clarifying my canine conundrum, Marina. One thing I forgot to do amid all my boobery was the homework assignment. Perhaps booby trap has to do with the booby bird? Maybe it got it’s name for being so stupid and easy to catch? That would make sense if the original booby trap was a bird trap that easily caught the stupid boobies. I imagine that enough boobies caught might have to be put in a booby hatch to be kept. Just a shot in the dark…
…though if I am right, that would mean people were trapping and probably eating the booby as food. Which makes one wonder if such trappers were served booby for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, morning, noon, or night. Maybe if they had caught an ample amount of boobies, they could say that they had boobies for days. Hmmm, I wonder who else could claim that?
Booby trap, a bra is a booby trap, isn’t it
Why is wind that blows, and wind as in the handle, spelt the same but seems to have different meanings.
Thank you Marina
For 1 it came from the Spanish word bobo. Y the interest? Because I think a lot of men are sucker punches for females breast. There r 2 other things I like better than boobs. What is it? Sorry, I’m not telling.
Hi Marina! Good lesson!
Could you do the words caucus or delegate? They talk about them a lot on the news with politics, but I don’t know where they come from.
Hi Marina, (who earns 5 “mmmmmWWHAH”s from me)!! Your latest word draws the attention to a woman’s upper torso.. Now, I’d like to ask you to give me the “break down” and the “low down” on the word that draws the attention to the lower region of the body: the booty
! The word is CALLIPYGIAN. I’ll let you tell everyone what it means. All hail J-LO on this one. Byb-bye!!
Where did the the word punk come from. Lars Frederickson of RANCID once said basicly it was an inmate who sells his south end of his north bound self fo cigarettes. If that is what it means then I am not a punk
lol. This leads me to my next question. Can I take you out sometime?? I look like this….. 
Words Requested: ubiquitous, xenophobe, and preface.
Now I have to study for my discourse analysis midterm… but thanks for all the great study breaks!
Hello Marina, I have a request but it’s not one specific word. I was watching an episode of (not sure if I should tell the shows name) and there was a question about Retronyms. As I understand it, retronyms are an original noun with a different adjective added. They usually are words that were derived from a new technology or situation etc. I’m sure that you know what they are but for your other students her e is a couple of examples. Acoustic guitar wasn’t a word until the electric guitar was invented; Black and white television wasn’t used until color televisions were invented; WW1 wasn’t called WW1 before there was a WW2; Cloth diapers were simply called diapers until disposable (plastic) diapers were invented. It has been very interesting trying to think of retronyms and was wondering if you and your other students could come up with some that I haven’t thought of yet. It’s sort of becoming a hobby. I have just recently (partly because of Hot for Words) have become interested in word origins. I even have people at work trying to think of retronyms. I have enjoyed trying to think of more and thought that maybe your students would also.
I really enjoy your word investigations and how your beauty is parts of the appeal but you’re intelligent and knowledge is what is focused on. So nice to see you blow the stereotype away that beauty and brains cannot coexist in the same person. Keep up the great work!
WAJKazoo, an inspired fan.
- various types of shoes (tennis, running, dress). At what point did adjectives begin describing types of shoes?
- electronic mail (aka email)
You know, Most of the words I ask for you to grab the origin of are strange or different words, well, Here is another word that most people wouldn’t, well in my opinion, think about getting the origin and whatnot of the word.
CHANNEL:
There are television Channels, Different radio channels, and then there are River Channels. I just wonder what the difference is between Television Channels and River channels. And how did the River channels become Channels.
Again, this is probably a word that most people wouldn’t even think about asking the origin and how it came to be. I would like a lesson, but if you can’t or choose another word, a simple reply would be great too.
As a verb, one meaning of channel means “to direct or guide upon a course”. As a noun it refers to that which channels, as Marina said the boundaries of a river or the assigned frequency band of a communications channel.
I love the way this girl thinks.
Marina, you did a great job!! of answering the question of what a channel is. As an engineer I was going to add something to that, but I couldn’t without being way too pedantic.
The way you answered it, is perfect and I liked how you related it to a river channel. I love the way you teach.
I would like to know the origin of the expression ‘knock on wood’. Thanks!
booby-trap apparently came into being in the 1850s, originally a schoolboy prank; or a trap for a presumably stupid schoolboy (like putting a bucket of water above a part open door. The more lethal meaning started during World War I.
Nick
great lesson marina! always wondered about how booby bcame a famous word.
as for the homework i would think that a “Booby Trap” would be called so because of the unsuspecting victim’s shock upon falling prey to it…such as one might receive a shock if shown a females boobies.
On the Nickelodeon TV show Drake and Josh the little sister Megan refers her to her brothers as “boobs”. How about the word “booty” ? How come it means treasure but also someones buttocks ?
word request: stereotype
I think they call a booby-trap a booby-trap because you have to be pretty stupid to get caught by one.
Hello Marina,
Great explanation, thanks ^_^
As for the homework, it would be tempting to think the booby-trap has anything to do with a trap using boobies as bait, or a trap intended to get access to boobies. But given your explanation, it would seem to me that it’s more likely that a booby-trap is a trap meant to catch stupid people, or a trap that’s so obvious only dunces would fall for it. In latter case, boobies might well be the bait.
Marina - You have a dog with pink ears!
Phew! And thanks for listing me as one of the people curious about Boobs.
I am so glad that it is not your dog. I was disappointed to see it… probably due to connotations of a certain kind of blonde celebrity booby. At least I know that you are not the perpetrator of the pink-eared horror…
is it because the trap would catch stupid people? people who were not smart enough to avoid them? Just a guess
Word Request:
I would like to know the origin of the word crucifix…thanks teach
buzzword,
this is a reply to one of your postings you wrote some time ago. it was about how the internet may change social behavior or the like.
there’s an interesting article in today’s new york times. it’s not exactly about the internet but it’s about new technology, text messages. well, I thought it was interesting.
It is an interesting article, thanks. I am going to read it again latter. I’ll think about it every now and then and relate it to some other things, do a little referencing. I will discuss it with my wife and friends, listen to what they think. Later I might have something more to say about it. It may lead to something or may not. I hope your accustomed to this type of behavior, fewer and fewer people are. But, you read newspaper articles, so I suspect you may have the patience.
In a way you could say that it’s bringing back the art of writing again.. who knows?
yes, I think of “chat language” and related things as some sort of … sociolect … you know, belonging to a group and picking up the lingo or something.
also, there seems to be quite a lot of linguistic analysis and literature on chats.
one.
two.
so, this is a serious research field.
yeah, the art. hehe. maybe 1337 i5 4 |\I3w I<in|) 0f 4rt.
are you familiar with tales for the leet? if not, watch it. it’s old but it’s funny. romeo and juliet, and hamlet in leet speech. :DD
Hi Marina,
Text messaging is great, I agree. I think it fills a gap between “full blown” phone conversations and “one-way” emailing. When one makes a phone call, one is almost invariably drawn into a back and forth conversation entailing customary opening pleasantries, some time period of communication, and then obligatory closing pleasantries. Often, it’s more than one really wants to get into with someone, and a text message and a quick response will do the trick. It has advantages over email because it’s instant. The recipient will generally get the message immediately, rather than leave the message unread for hours or days.
I think, though, that it has little chance of reviving the “art” of writing. Over the last few years I have noticed anecdotally a sharp decline in the ability of people I encounter to write. Granted, they weren’t very proficient 10 years ago either, but now it’s hit new lows. People are taking their text messaging techniques (i.e. their “shorthand”) and using it in letters and emails. Constant use of the ampersand symbol instead of the word “and,” and other abbreviations like “w” and “wo,” are rampant in what should be more formal writing. Complete sentences are becoming hard to come by. And, it’s becoming almost a “badge of honor” for people to claim complete spelling nescience.
The art of writing, like penmanship, is near dead. Change is the way of the world, and perhaps artful writing is no longer necessary. So be it. In my opinion, however, it’s refreshing to actually read a letter or email from someone who actually bothered to put their ideas into separate paragraphs and complete sentences, structuring their thoughts in a way that is clear and understandable. It’s downright breathtaking to actually receive one in which the spelling, punctuation and grammar actually approach some measure of consistency (if not accuracy).
You’re doing something, Marina, to help in this regard. Spreading the knowledge that there is actually some structure to language will make some people who watch your videos at least think about what they write.
Eric
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If by the art of writing you mean communication between people in letters, I think email has enabled this, not texting.
I met my wife in highschool when I was 14 and she was 12; we were always friends. Our lives took us in very different directions, to different cities, we only managed to hook up from time to time - and we never got seroius. It wasn’t until email made writing back and forth so simple that we really fell in love. In some ways, you can express yourself more clearly and poetically by writing a letter. Though so few of us actually use it that way.
I think that even though technological innovation has been discontinuous for communication methods like pen and ink, the dynamic and cumulative changes to communication itself, are ultimately beneficial and leading to what I can only describe as the power of “We” - a better world. Email worked for me!
by the way Marina… it looks like your dog shrunk
How did you go from Great Dane to this little thing 
(I couldn’t make out the breed). Or maybe you have two!