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Now dig this.
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Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 16:24:21 -0600 (CST)
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From: RSRMadison@aol.com
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Subject: Please help these memes reproduce
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By Richard S. Russell (RSRMadison@aol.com):
Here are some memes, prompted by the recent Internet explosion, which I
believe deserve wider distribution. Please pass them along whenever you get a
chance.
(1) "Eddress". Many people now have 2 kinds of address, which are
cumbersomely distinguished as being of either the "snail-mail" or "e-"
variety. A convenient shorthand for the latter is "eddress", leaving
"address" to once again refer unambiguously to the former.
(2) "Ne?". If you've ever found yourself (as I have) writing "can't he?" or
"didn't he?" and then thinking "Damn, that's sexist!" and changing it to
"didn't he or she?", then thinking "Rats, that's awkward!", here's a succinct
replacement: "ne?". You yourself can probably imagine how to tack it onto the
end of sentences, ne? It can also be used to mean "isn't that so?". (not to
be confused with Monty Python's Knights who say "Ni!")
(3) "WWW". There are 26 letters in the Roman alphabet. 25 of them can be
pronounced with a single syllable, making it relatively efficient to spell
words out loud. As it happens, given how finicky eddresses and URLs are, we
OFTEN have to spell them out letter by letter. Then we get to the common
abbreviation "www", which is pronounced dub-il-yew-dub-il-yew-dub-il-yew (9
syllables). If you have to do this for an answering-machine message or a TV
or radio blurb, where every tick of the clock is valuable, it's an irritant.
So why not just say "world wide web" (3 syllables)? If enuf people start
doing this, it'll become the standard verbal shorthand for "www". (Let us all
now break into a chorus of "George Washington Bridge" -- AKA "GW Bridge",
which scans the same.)
Richard S. Russell
2642 Kendall Av.
Madison, WI, 53705-3736
608+233-5640
RSRMadison@AOL.com
PS: Sorry if you get >1 of these. I use mailing lists, and some people's
eddresses appear on >1 of them. If this happens to you, you can think of
yourself as my kinda person ... no, wait ...
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