When I was young, in the 60s, there was a wonderful programme on the radio in the afternoon at tea time, called Woman's World. Once a month, there was a slot for a lady from England who would send out a tape of what had transpired in the vicinity of her home. It probably arrived via the mailships, or perhaps was sent out by plane if it wasn't too expensive. How far off those days seem! But I digress...
She would start off: "This is Elizabeth Webb calling from Oxfordshire" and it was always fascinating to hear about the birds in the garden or whether there was a drought and what flowers were in bloom. It was the closest thing I can think of that relates to what we do nowadays - blogging, twittering and facebooking. But then you had to be someone who was regarded as remarkably interesting, eloquent and extremely well spoken - nothing but the Queen's English for the airwaves!
Today there are no cultural standards whatsoever, and the saddest part is that very few people are even aware of it. Will grammar and spelling join the dinosaurs, becoming extinct through a virtual meteorite from cyberspace? If the ability to communicate has not been impeded by the use of every conceivable form of abbreviation, for which there exists an sms dictionary to enable older receivers to decode their messages, then it appears so.
I for one will miss the use of such words as 'discombobulated' and 'flapdoodle' when referring to confused writers of nonsense, but I suppose their continued use will lead to aggravated carpal tunnel syndrome through excessive keystroking, and who would want to be considered 'persnickety' for being obsessive about mundane details?
So it only remains for me to say that I hope this blog will make you LOL or perhaps even FOCL or, dare I hope, LLTA!
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