This morning my friend and I came up with a great plan for the day. (Sitting near one another, with our laptops.) I sent her a text message that I’d come over and pick up a few snacks on the way. She thought that idea was “Perf!” But her iPhone didn’t approve of her creative abbreviation and sent me a text that said simply:
Peed!
Today’s lesson? Getting too excited over text can leave an embarrassing smudge on your reputation.
Posted in Gadgeteering, Write and Wrong
Tagged best intextions, pee, predictive text, texting
More strange and awkward misapprehensions from the world of text messaging. This time we take a look at some common misnomers…
Do you have a friend name Brian? I do. And when I text him my phone makes an ethnic assumption. I type 27426 and it gives me Asian. Well, I guess there are probably way more Asians in the world than Brians.
If I want to write to or about my friend Andy, before I can get to his name my phone offers me Body. There’s something creepy about it that I’ve never been able to put my finger on. Speaking of body parts, when I check in on my little bro I get arm.
My buddy Robbie tells me that when he tries to write to a girl named Karen, by the time he punches in the “e” his phone assumes he’s writing Lard. Here’s hoping you don’t have a fat friend named Karen.
And nine times out of ten, when I try to write the name Kev it comes out Jew. It’s just a typo, but I got this mad jewy friend named Kevin and it cracks me up every time. Ha. Jew.
Posted in Gadgeteering, Write and Wrong
Tagged best intextions, cell phones, predictive text, text message, texting
Long before Google Suggest and the Google Game your cell phone was trying to read your mind. Predictive Text, or T9, employs algorithms of spelling and common usage to help you skip all the button-pushing of old school 1-for-A, 2-for-B texting by suggesting words as you type. It creates a suggestion hierarchy — most likely candidates are listed first. For instance, hit 4-6-6-3 and your phone will suggest “good” followed by “home,” “gone,” “hood,” and so on.
Developers for the various manufacturers and carriers use different algorithms to predict what you want to say and the order in which words appear. Sometimes the sequence of suggestions makes you wonder what the hell they’re basing their math on.
Here’s a first look at some of the more entertaining and questionable predictive text suggestion progressions in a new series called “Best Intextions.”
Best Intextions: Howl it Know?
#1: Wolf
#2: Woke
Really, what are the chances more people are texting about wolves than about waking up?
Email your favorite T9 text missteps to UnhappyMediator@gmail.com.
Posted in Gadgeteering, Write and Wrong
Tagged best intextions, cell phones, predictive text, t9, text message, texting
While we’re on the subject of kids… Dispatch from a 4th grade science class at the elite Ramaz School in New York City.
Teacher: What are some important things we couldn’t do without opposable thumbs?
Student: Texting!
The ortho Jewish school is tentative on the subject of evolution, but surely regardless of how we got these useful digits it was all part of Hashem’s master plan. And God said unto Abraham, “Text me after sundown.”
Related: Chatspeak Shows No Effect on Spelling, May Improve Haikus.
Posted in Gadgeteering, Lab Results
Tagged cell phones, evolution, kids, ramaz, text message, texting
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