How has the iPhone affected language?
August 3, 2023 6:11 AM Subscribe
I recently switched from Android to iPhone and have discovered that changes in communication over the past few years, which I attributed to general changes in culture, are actually rooted in Apple's decisions to do/not do certain things with iOS. I'm curious what others exist and if they're documented someplace. Examples inside.
The most obvious example is how the lack of punctuation on the iPhone's main keyboard screen has resulted in a general lack of punctuation in people's texting. I had assumed the populous was just caring less. This isn't just the lack of periods, which is startling, but also the lack of commas and other punctuation. Since the punctuation is readily available on the Android keyboard, I assumed it was similar on the iPhone. It never occurred to me that as phone screens have gotten larger over time, Apple would not have changed the design decision to segregate punctuation, which I believe they initially did because the original iPhone's screen was so small.
Another one I discovered was that for a few years now I have been getting texts that read Kk instead of Ok or just K (as a short form for Okay). Initially I was only getting it from one person, but then it started spreading and it felt kind of interesting to watch it spread. However, yesterday I discovered why. The iPhone will not let you text K to someone without considerable friction. You can type K, but as you hit Send, it autocorrects to I (because K isn't in the dictionary as a word and it's close to I on the keyboard, iOS assumes you mean I). The workaround is to type K twice before hitting send.
What are some other ways that Apple's decisions to design the way they have (especially the keyboard) has changed the way people communicate? Has anyone documented these things or written a paper about them?
The most obvious example is how the lack of punctuation on the iPhone's main keyboard screen has resulted in a general lack of punctuation in people's texting. I had assumed the populous was just caring less. This isn't just the lack of periods, which is startling, but also the lack of commas and other punctuation. Since the punctuation is readily available on the Android keyboard, I assumed it was similar on the iPhone. It never occurred to me that as phone screens have gotten larger over time, Apple would not have changed the design decision to segregate punctuation, which I believe they initially did because the original iPhone's screen was so small.
Another one I discovered was that for a few years now I have been getting texts that read Kk instead of Ok or just K (as a short form for Okay). Initially I was only getting it from one person, but then it started spreading and it felt kind of interesting to watch it spread. However, yesterday I discovered why. The iPhone will not let you text K to someone without considerable friction. You can type K, but as you hit Send, it autocorrects to I (because K isn't in the dictionary as a word and it's close to I on the keyboard, iOS assumes you mean I). The workaround is to type K twice before hitting send.
What are some other ways that Apple's decisions to design the way they have (especially the keyboard) has changed the way people communicate? Has anyone documented these things or written a paper about them?
Both of the things you mentioned were part of cultural trends that started in earnest before the iPhone was released to the public in 2007. This article from Oxford Learning bemoans the lack of punctuation and trends in texting slang from 2006. Wiktionary has an entry for kk from 2005.
Texting was much harder in the '90s and aughts since texts were often composed entirely via multiple presses of the numeric keypad, not a real or virtual keyboard, so those shortcuts have been around for a long time. Some of Apple's keyboard design decisions may have more to do with trends that existed during its development, rather than setting trends.
That said, as someone who uses both iOS and Android, I do agree that GBoard on Android seems miles ahead of any iOS keyboard in terms of ease of entry and accuracy.
posted by eschatfische at 6:40 AM on August 3, 2023 [36 favorites]
Texting was much harder in the '90s and aughts since texts were often composed entirely via multiple presses of the numeric keypad, not a real or virtual keyboard, so those shortcuts have been around for a long time. Some of Apple's keyboard design decisions may have more to do with trends that existed during its development, rather than setting trends.
That said, as someone who uses both iOS and Android, I do agree that GBoard on Android seems miles ahead of any iOS keyboard in terms of ease of entry and accuracy.
posted by eschatfische at 6:40 AM on August 3, 2023 [36 favorites]
Another one I discovered was that for a few years now I have been getting texts that read Kk instead of Ok or just K
You just blew my mind. It all makes sense now.
posted by archimago at 6:45 AM on August 3, 2023 [7 favorites]
You just blew my mind. It all makes sense now.
posted by archimago at 6:45 AM on August 3, 2023 [7 favorites]
These aren't changes that happened because of Apple's keyboard; they are changes due to messaging tech more generally, going back to instant messages. The book Because Internet goes into some of this.
For the punctuation: there's a group of maxims, Grice's Maxims, that help explain some of this. In text messages (and before that, instant messages), the end of a message can be signaled by the line break. So, there's really no need for periods in particular, like in text like this, for signaling the end of a sentence. Question marks and exclamation points do additional things (signaling questionhood and excitement), so they get to hang around.
Adding a period becomes doing an extra step. There's no need to signal the end of a sentence--the line break does that. So additional meaning gets read into the period; specifically, something like anger or annoyance or finality.
The other way works too, with question marks. Leaving one *off* has now become meaningful. "what" in a text message is distinct from, say, "What?!", and also "what". Capitalization/not capitalization is also doing work here.
There's also some work in the book, I think, about, for me, in order of most friendly to least friendly, kk vs. k vs. okay vs. Okay. Here's a bit going into it.
posted by damayanti at 6:49 AM on August 3, 2023 [15 favorites]
For the punctuation: there's a group of maxims, Grice's Maxims, that help explain some of this. In text messages (and before that, instant messages), the end of a message can be signaled by the line break. So, there's really no need for periods in particular, like in text like this, for signaling the end of a sentence. Question marks and exclamation points do additional things (signaling questionhood and excitement), so they get to hang around.
Adding a period becomes doing an extra step. There's no need to signal the end of a sentence--the line break does that. So additional meaning gets read into the period; specifically, something like anger or annoyance or finality.
The other way works too, with question marks. Leaving one *off* has now become meaningful. "what" in a text message is distinct from, say, "What?!", and also "what". Capitalization/not capitalization is also doing work here.
There's also some work in the book, I think, about, for me, in order of most friendly to least friendly, kk vs. k vs. okay vs. Okay. Here's a bit going into it.
posted by damayanti at 6:49 AM on August 3, 2023 [15 favorites]
I send "K." texts (K-space-space, which solves your lack-of-periods problem) all the time. I get "K." texts all the time. I don't think I've ever gotten a "Kk" text before. It seems to me that, because the O and K keys are adjacent, "Kk" could be just as easily be a mistyped "Ok" than an way to avoid an autocorrection. I have heard people say "kk" in conversation before, though, so "Kk" as a text wouldn't set off any weird alarm bells for me.
The iPhone keyboard doesn't have a period because, as I mentioned, hitting the space bar twice (which is what I and a lot of other people were trained to do after the end of a sentence in typing classes) creates a period. I've never met a single iPhone user who had a problem with this. Well, except for people who don't use punctuation in any other written medium, which is actually probably the majority of the population. Perhaps you've been lucky and most of the people you interact with write coherent sentences with proper punctuation, subject-verb agreement, etc. Most of the people I text with regularly do, too. But I've interacted with enough people outside my circle of well-educated, bookish friends to know that most people are absolutely atrocious at using punctuation. Ask any English teacher. I had a professor in college (college! in an upper-level liberal arts class at a reasonably well-respected university!) who would stop reading any papers after the tenth punctuation mistake and automatically assign an F grade. Punctuation is hard. But also, I just looked at my text messages, and all of the five iPhone users I've texted with most recently have included recent messages that included either a exclamation point or a question mark. Again, my friends and family maybe aren't representative, but it seems to me that if someone knows how to use punctuation, they know how to find that punctuation on the iPhone keyboard. (Note also that emoji are accessed via a secondary keyboard screen, similar to punctuation, and most people don't have problems finding or using emoji.)
The one undisputable way that the iPhone has affected language is that a significantly larger number of people have used the word "ducking" as an adjective since the iPhone debuted, but even that's about to change.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:53 AM on August 3, 2023 [9 favorites]
The iPhone keyboard doesn't have a period because, as I mentioned, hitting the space bar twice (which is what I and a lot of other people were trained to do after the end of a sentence in typing classes) creates a period. I've never met a single iPhone user who had a problem with this. Well, except for people who don't use punctuation in any other written medium, which is actually probably the majority of the population. Perhaps you've been lucky and most of the people you interact with write coherent sentences with proper punctuation, subject-verb agreement, etc. Most of the people I text with regularly do, too. But I've interacted with enough people outside my circle of well-educated, bookish friends to know that most people are absolutely atrocious at using punctuation. Ask any English teacher. I had a professor in college (college! in an upper-level liberal arts class at a reasonably well-respected university!) who would stop reading any papers after the tenth punctuation mistake and automatically assign an F grade. Punctuation is hard. But also, I just looked at my text messages, and all of the five iPhone users I've texted with most recently have included recent messages that included either a exclamation point or a question mark. Again, my friends and family maybe aren't representative, but it seems to me that if someone knows how to use punctuation, they know how to find that punctuation on the iPhone keyboard. (Note also that emoji are accessed via a secondary keyboard screen, similar to punctuation, and most people don't have problems finding or using emoji.)
The one undisputable way that the iPhone has affected language is that a significantly larger number of people have used the word "ducking" as an adjective since the iPhone debuted, but even that's about to change.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:53 AM on August 3, 2023 [9 favorites]
Sorry to burst your bubble, but the iPhone has both punctuation available as well as the ability to send one single “k” without autocorrection. I also remember using “kk” pre-smartphones.
posted by Champagne Supernova at 7:01 AM on August 3, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by Champagne Supernova at 7:01 AM on August 3, 2023 [9 favorites]
I do think that design choices in the iPhone (and other devices) have influenced communication, although I don't think your two anecdotes are the best examples — as eschatfische mentioned, those were both trends that existed in text messaging and IMs before the debut of the iPhone.
One big example that does come to mind is emoji — they were widely used in Japan for years, but the inflection point for emoji becoming popular around the world was when Apple made the emoji keyboard available to all iPhone users in 2011.
posted by mekily at 7:01 AM on August 3, 2023
One big example that does come to mind is emoji — they were widely used in Japan for years, but the inflection point for emoji becoming popular around the world was when Apple made the emoji keyboard available to all iPhone users in 2011.
posted by mekily at 7:01 AM on August 3, 2023
Yeah, sorry, I don't know if you can draw any conclusions about changes in languages based on your lack of familiarity/ease with typing on an iPhone. I use commas and periods (and exclamation points, etc.) whenever I want to. But! These are interesting things to think about, and I think you would really enjoy reading Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Change by Gretchen McCulloch, mentioned above. I haven't finished it yet, so for all I know she says your hypothesis is exactly correct.
posted by wintersweet at 7:07 AM on August 3, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by wintersweet at 7:07 AM on August 3, 2023 [6 favorites]
Sorry to burst your bubble, but the iPhone has both punctuation available as well as the ability to send one single “k” without autocorrection.
My iphone SE, the smallest iphone, doesn't have punctuation available on the alpha texting screen, so that's not 100% true. My Samsung android phone does.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:56 AM on August 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
My iphone SE, the smallest iphone, doesn't have punctuation available on the alpha texting screen, so that's not 100% true. My Samsung android phone does.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:56 AM on August 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
"This isn't just the lack of periods, which is startling, but also the lack of commas and other punctuation."
I am told by my teen that punctuation is hostile in texts. That is, ending a sentence with a period is seen as too serious / I'm angry...something. There are many other "rules" of texting that I'm occasionally informed of that don't have much to do with the iPhone or Android keyboard layouts as far as I can tell. (e.g. 💀 is apparently the approved laughing emoji and not 🤣...)
I don't think that's an iPhone thing - I think that's a teen culture thing.
Not aware of any studies or whatnot on that yet. Would be an interesting topic, but frustrating to study I'd think: the iPhone keyboard design / features are a bit fluid and you'd have to have access to a lot of texts to actually study the change. Most of the text you'd want to observe isn't public, right? (You could maybe skim things like Instagram and YouTube comments around specific releases of iPhone keyboard updates...)
posted by jzb at 8:05 AM on August 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
I am told by my teen that punctuation is hostile in texts. That is, ending a sentence with a period is seen as too serious / I'm angry...something. There are many other "rules" of texting that I'm occasionally informed of that don't have much to do with the iPhone or Android keyboard layouts as far as I can tell. (e.g. 💀 is apparently the approved laughing emoji and not 🤣...)
I don't think that's an iPhone thing - I think that's a teen culture thing.
Not aware of any studies or whatnot on that yet. Would be an interesting topic, but frustrating to study I'd think: the iPhone keyboard design / features are a bit fluid and you'd have to have access to a lot of texts to actually study the change. Most of the text you'd want to observe isn't public, right? (You could maybe skim things like Instagram and YouTube comments around specific releases of iPhone keyboard updates...)
posted by jzb at 8:05 AM on August 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
The first thing I thought of when reading this question was when, a few years ago, Apple added 'payed', formerly an obscure nautical term, to its spellcheck dictionary.
posted by Hatashran at 9:10 AM on August 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Hatashran at 9:10 AM on August 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
The iPhone keyboard doesn't have a period
For fields where you might be entering an email or URL, it squeezes it in next to the space bar. Other than that, I think you have to switch to one of the secondary keyboards. (The keyboard on iPadOS is a different kettle of fish.)
For old fogies who insist on using punctuation on a recent-ish iOS device, you might try this: touch and hold on the 123 button (the button for the secondary 'numbers and punctuation' keyboard), slide to the key you want, then lift your finger. It should input the punctuation symbol and then immediately switch back to the alphanumeric keyboard.
posted by zamboni at 9:17 AM on August 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
For fields where you might be entering an email or URL, it squeezes it in next to the space bar. Other than that, I think you have to switch to one of the secondary keyboards. (The keyboard on iPadOS is a different kettle of fish.)
For old fogies who insist on using punctuation on a recent-ish iOS device, you might try this: touch and hold on the 123 button (the button for the secondary 'numbers and punctuation' keyboard), slide to the key you want, then lift your finger. It should input the punctuation symbol and then immediately switch back to the alphanumeric keyboard.
posted by zamboni at 9:17 AM on August 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
Space-space inserts a period so you can access periods easily from the alpha keyboard; I also send the single K all the time with no problems, I think once you send it once, it adds it to your dictionary so you can do it again. I think these might be more generational / prescriptive changes vs. design-driven.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:29 AM on August 3, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:29 AM on August 3, 2023 [7 favorites]
Apple’s enraging spellcheck corrections creep into general usage. And if “we’re” consistently gets changed to “were,” you’re going to end up using them interchangeably if you’re not used to making the correction yourself.
posted by corey flood at 9:36 AM on August 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by corey flood at 9:36 AM on August 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
the "liked" function for them is apparently hearting(?) a text, whereas I see the text "liked an image" and I was all, huh?
An adjacent topic in OS based communication differences is ambiguity and miscommunication due to differing emoji sets.
Identifying the Risks of Miscommunicating with Emoji
posted by zamboni at 9:40 AM on August 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
An adjacent topic in OS based communication differences is ambiguity and miscommunication due to differing emoji sets.
Identifying the Risks of Miscommunicating with Emoji
posted by zamboni at 9:40 AM on August 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
My social group was using 'kk' and avoiding punctuation in the late 90s. (I have the ICQ logs to prove it.)
posted by dmd at 9:44 AM on August 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by dmd at 9:44 AM on August 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
Came here to agree that kk far predates the iPhone, but also…
> touch and hold on the 123 button (the button for the secondary 'numbers and punctuation' keyboard), slide to the key you want, then lift your finger
Holy crap. I had no idea about this, and I’ve been using iPhones for 13 years and the default keyboard for at least the last 5. This is huge.
posted by tubedogg at 10:11 AM on August 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
> touch and hold on the 123 button (the button for the secondary 'numbers and punctuation' keyboard), slide to the key you want, then lift your finger
Holy crap. I had no idea about this, and I’ve been using iPhones for 13 years and the default keyboard for at least the last 5. This is huge.
posted by tubedogg at 10:11 AM on August 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
I know one specific person who uses kk, but really that's what thumbs up is for. I see/acknowledge your note. It doesn't need an answer.
posted by TravellingCari at 10:59 AM on August 3, 2023
posted by TravellingCari at 10:59 AM on August 3, 2023
Mod note: Comment removed. Please, let's keep the focus on answering the question as opposed to the various tech stats/happenings of the various platforms, thanks!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 12:00 PM on August 3, 2023
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 12:00 PM on August 3, 2023
One important way the iPhone has affected language is that its keyboard design has allowed people to communicate much more fully and expressively than would normally be possible on a device of its size without a keyboard. You will recall Blackberries and other similar devices of the era which were considered the only way to let the happen and such an improvement over a numbers-only device - the keyboard was still pretty shitty but it was the best you were going to get. The key development - as outlined by ColdFusion in their early history of the iPhone took place back in 2006: it was recognized at this point that the proposed soft keyboard for the iPhone was performing sufficiently badly to sink the whole project: it was too small and it caused product demos to fail. Apple paused all other iOs development and put everybody to work on the keyboard problem. At the end of this time Ken Kocienda who came up with a technique driven by primitive AI algorithm: the target space for each key on the keyboard would be invisibly and dynamically remapped as successive letters were typed. Type "T" and the space for "A" or "H" is large, that for "G" or "S" - keys lying adjacent to the targets - are small because of the low likelihood of those letters being the next intended. This has the effect of dramatically reducing keying errors and increasing typing rates. Type some more and the algorithm suggests a word. The suggested word part, we notice, but the letter level algorithm is very elegant, basically invisible and has become the secret sauce which enables today's smartphone keyboards to work in an acceptable way. Without this innovation then our language conventions would probably have stayed much more as they were in the early days of texting.
posted by rongorongo at 12:08 PM on August 3, 2023 [11 favorites]
posted by rongorongo at 12:08 PM on August 3, 2023 [11 favorites]
kk is less hostile than k. k is cold and unfriendly. kk is warm. im almost 50 and Autistic, and can understand this super-easily. much of these changes come down to nuanced shifts in communication tone, and im pretty sure a lot of them were developed by kids on IM and stuff who were born in the mid-90s or so. that is the tech that guided a lot of this. short sentences, no punctuation. no capital letters, etc. imo at least.
posted by asimplemouse at 12:46 PM on August 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by asimplemouse at 12:46 PM on August 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
Without this innovation then our language conventions would probably have stayed much more as they were in the early days of texting.
The switch to soft keyboards has absolutely contributed to the decline in textese/SMS language, which appear to be on their way to join pager codes in the linguistic dustbin.
From a longitudinal study ending in 2015:
Apple's resistance to joining Rich Communication Services and sticking with iMessage is likely part of what leads to people replying with
Android has come up with a workaround for when an iPhone user "likes" something or similar. The built in messaging app on my Pixel uses (I think) RCS which converts those repetitive texts that put "liked" or "Laughed at" in front of the original with emojis
While on recent versions of Google Messages and Apple Messages, the client software will will intercept the canned SMS message and display it as a reaction, it may get run through a translation, which means it may not actually be interpreted as intended. (It's the client doing this, not RCS as a service.)
I know one specific person who uses kk, but really that's what thumbs up is for. I see/acknowledge your note. It doesn't need an answer.
Hopefully this revised version meets with mod approval. This askme is absolutely about how technology and language interact, and the underlying implementation details are an important part of the equation. Sorry I didn't quite get that across before, BB.
posted by zamboni at 1:34 PM on August 3, 2023 [6 favorites]
The switch to soft keyboards has absolutely contributed to the decline in textese/SMS language, which appear to be on their way to join pager codes in the linguistic dustbin.
From a longitudinal study ending in 2015:
Communicating by text message is an everyday occurrence for most young adults. This form of communication is often associated with an abbreviated, unconventional spelling style, sometimes called ‘textese’. In this study, we report on the changing written language of text messaging, across seven cohorts of first-year Psychology undergraduates (n = 728) at an Australian university. From 2009 to 2015, the decline of textese use has gradually tailed off, but remains to represent approximately 12% of written words. Earlier attempts to reduce the number of characters (e.g.,The influence of textese on adolescents’ perceptions of text message writers (2021)for ) are now equalled by emotionally expressive spellings that increase the number of characters (e.g., ), and women have continued to use more textese than men. It appears that today’s larger phone screens and keyboards, and easier input methods, rather than any changes in views on the appropriateness of using textese, are the main drivers in reducing young adults’ tendency to use unconventional spellings in their text messages.
Text messages are characterised by a casual language style, ‘textese’ (e.g., c u on thurs). This study investigated adolescents’ perceptions of the use of different levels of textese in digital messages which varied in their intended recipient (friend, teacher). Grade 8 students in Australia (N = 90, aged 13–14 years) each read six text messages purportedly written by a fellow student, and rated the extent to which they agreed (on a 7-point Likert scale) that the message writer was intelligent, paid attention to detail, used an appropriate writing style, and was friendly. Overall, participants rated message senders most favourably on all measures when they used no textese, and least favourably when they used high levels of textese. This pattern was even stronger when messages were addressed to teachers rather than same-aged friends. The findings suggest that adolescents are sensitive to both writing style and recipient when considering digital messages.What are some other ways that Apple's decisions to design the way they have (especially the keyboard) has changed the way people communicate?
Apple's resistance to joining Rich Communication Services and sticking with iMessage is likely part of what leads to people replying with
kor
kk,
haha, etc, which is otherwise a legacy of SMS language. Users respond to changes in available tools, usually taking full advantage of provided affordances. RCS and iMessage have integrated reactions which respond to, but are not in and of themselves textual replies. Apple calls them Tapbacks, Google calls them reactions. As long as you stay within RCS or iMessage, everything works smoothly, but when the two messaging services collide, iMessage falls back to sending them as canned SMS messages instead of reacting directly. (As mentioned upthread.)
Android has come up with a workaround for when an iPhone user "likes" something or similar. The built in messaging app on my Pixel uses (I think) RCS which converts those repetitive texts that put "liked" or "Laughed at" in front of the original with emojis
While on recent versions of Google Messages and Apple Messages, the client software will will intercept the canned SMS message and display it as a reaction, it may get run through a translation, which means it may not actually be interpreted as intended. (It's the client doing this, not RCS as a service.)
I know one specific person who uses kk, but really that's what thumbs up is for. I see/acknowledge your note. It doesn't need an answer.
kkcan't be munged by a well-meaning client interface - it's just text. That said, 👍 and 👎 are the only tapbacks/reactions that survive a trip through iMessage to Google Message translation more or less intact.
Hopefully this revised version meets with mod approval. This askme is absolutely about how technology and language interact, and the underlying implementation details are an important part of the equation. Sorry I didn't quite get that across before, BB.
posted by zamboni at 1:34 PM on August 3, 2023 [6 favorites]
kk is less hostile than k. k is cold and unfriendly. kk is warm.
That’s fascinating. KK has always struck me as feeling/sounding impatient or exasperated. Like someone exclaiming “okay! okay! already!”
posted by Thorzdad at 1:12 PM on August 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
That’s fascinating. KK has always struck me as feeling/sounding impatient or exasperated. Like someone exclaiming “okay! okay! already!”
posted by Thorzdad at 1:12 PM on August 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
I don't know about punctuation, but the "kk" instead of "ok" predates the iPhone by many years. It was a common expression in multiplayer first person shooter games with text communication as far back as I can remember (so at least late 90s). It's definitely faster to type on a T9 keyboard, that's for sure.
posted by gemmy at 8:46 PM on August 4, 2023
posted by gemmy at 8:46 PM on August 4, 2023
I've seen some long bows drawn in my time, but crikey.
Both of my kids are Android users. They don't punctuate texts. They don't punctuate messages on Discord or in Steam, despite using a full physical keyboard.
I'm a senior executive in my late 40s. I don't punctuate emails when I'm sending short messages, or even my own handwritten notes. I did this in school in the 80s and 90s. My iPhone doesn't enter into it.
Punctuation has a place. It isn't necessary for short, informal, immediate communication. As this becomes our most frequent form of communicating, it's entirely natural and expected that punctuation would appear to be falling away. Except it isn't, and it's every bit as present as it ever was (well, since the Restoration) in formal writing, which used to be the only writing.
This isn't just the lack of periods, which is startling
Startling...how, exactly?
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 6:15 AM on August 5, 2023
Both of my kids are Android users. They don't punctuate texts. They don't punctuate messages on Discord or in Steam, despite using a full physical keyboard.
I'm a senior executive in my late 40s. I don't punctuate emails when I'm sending short messages, or even my own handwritten notes. I did this in school in the 80s and 90s. My iPhone doesn't enter into it.
Punctuation has a place. It isn't necessary for short, informal, immediate communication. As this becomes our most frequent form of communicating, it's entirely natural and expected that punctuation would appear to be falling away. Except it isn't, and it's every bit as present as it ever was (well, since the Restoration) in formal writing, which used to be the only writing.
This isn't just the lack of periods, which is startling
Startling...how, exactly?
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 6:15 AM on August 5, 2023
kk is less hostile than k. k is cold and unfriendly. kk is warm.
I just noticed the Wikipedia page on SMS language has footnotes on the k or kk section:
^‡ k is sometimes considered passive aggressive
^† kk can also signal the end of a conversation
posted by zamboni at 8:35 AM on August 5, 2023
I just noticed the Wikipedia page on SMS language has footnotes on the k or kk section:
^‡ k is sometimes considered passive aggressive
^† kk can also signal the end of a conversation
posted by zamboni at 8:35 AM on August 5, 2023
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posted by jenfullmoon at 6:33 AM on August 3, 2023 [4 favorites]