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Friday Mar 31, 2006
200 year old text speak
ICWales reported yesterday that a Welsh poem uncovered in an American museum has demonstrated that text speak was in fashion way back in the 19th century. The poem is written by Hugh Pugh, a young school teacher who lived in
What's interesting is that Hugh substituted phrases with abbreviations, like "CU" instead of "see you". Sounds like he'd have fitted in perfectly if he was still alive and teaching today.
Posted by Sam Thomas ( 3:59 PM ) Link to this post Comments[0]Lawson's TV delusion
Mark Lawson's latest piece in the Guardian is an overview of the way the internet and 24 hour news culture is destroying the dignity of television.
Yes, that's right, destroying the dignity of the revered institution that brought us such masterpieces as The Black and White Minstrel Show, The Comedians and Minipops.
He's view seems to be that when people sell Blue Peter badges online or are married as part of reality television shows it's a massive change in modern values.
I remember a mate selling his Blue Peter badge to someone who didn't want to pay to get into a museum on a school trip almost 20 years ago. Alas, this happened in real-life and therefore isn't responsible for the death of dignity in television - it only counts when someone can do a search on ebay for it.
But it's the idea that some new drive to televise a wedding, and now the recent divorce, is the sign of some terrible lack of dignity that really grates. Does Mark Lawson not remember one of the first 'fly on the wall' shows - The Family?
This show featured a family thrown onto the television and lead to a massive televised wedding that was also followed by a divorce.
So what exactly is Mark Lawson saying? The internet is wrong because it makes what people have always done possible on a bigger scale? Modern 24-hour news is destroy its dignity by doing exactly the same thing they've always done? The internet should be banned for allowing someone to sell something they own?
If there's one idea that seems to have grown up over the last ten years or so, it's that television is drowning under a mass of poor quality shows, dragging it down from its previous lofty heights. Truth is television is a baby, a brand new medium that has barely exsisted in the grand scale of things and looking to blame other, newier, mediums for its faults is both naive and lazy.
Posted by Jim Valentine ( 2:59 PM ) Link to this post Comments[3]