I try not to get too upset by the texting-based trend of contracting perfectly good words to a rebus of sometimes indecipherable characters. But mostly I just shrug it off because I don’t use those gadgets and tools that specialize in reducing communication clarity.

But sometimes I get a chuckle or good laugh out of the concept. Just the other day I laughed at the May 27 installment of Adrian Raeside’s comic The Other Coast. There the cell phone texter had eliminated almost all the vowels. “omg u r my bfflnmw u qtpi.”

The next day in Working Daze, by John Zakour and Scott Roberts, one of the characters says that she’d save more time if she eliminated all the consonants instead. “AY I EE O EE OU O”.

In keeping with the trends, and moving them forward, I think I’m going adopt both these strategies, removing vowels and removing consonants for my texting, blogging, IMs, and the like. So, you’ll know it’s me when you receive the cogent, succinct, efficient
“

.”

I look forward to your response, in kind.
Steve Lange
Senior Editor
Palo Alto Software