> -----Original Message----- > From: Mark A Mandel [mailto:mam at theworld.com] > Sent: Monday, February 24, 2003 12:51 PM > To: John Klein > Cc: 'Dragaera Mailing List' > Subject: RE: Good books generally (was: Literary Disappointments) >snip This & previous messages to which I will reply concerned the use of certain techno-abbreviations considered to be ill-mannered or moronic by some on this list. Here is my reply. Remember that long involved discussion about languages a couple months ago? That focused on spoken languages but I think the same holds true for written language. Language is used to communicate, but it is also used to identify ourselves. Groups of people who feel different than the ruling class take pride in their own language, despite it being considered ungrammatical or improper (by the ruling class). I speculate that those who use the pager-abbreviations are predominantly 13-22 years old, a time when kids try out several "identities" (aka, rebel against the parents). > willing to take blame for my lack of perfect pitch or my > strongly negative sense of direction. My twelfth grade A strongly negative sense of direction. Does this mean you always know when you're going the wrong way? Rachel