Subtext

I have observed many people "texting" each other,
and have wanted to follow suit but it is not
in my cellphone plan. So that makes it an
upgrade product for me, along with digital
cable, HD radio, premium gas and "Super Sizing".

I like the idea of sending abbreviated thoughts,
but I think it would be cooler if it was based
on Morse Code, Latin or stenographer's shorthand.
You would have to learn how to text in school,
like typing. Then the skill could crossover
into a real-world application or career,
like a court position or the medical field.

I wonder what the text abbreviations look like in
other languages.

It would be cool if you could switch to other
text "fonts", like 'hobo signs', 'Greek alphabet',
'wingdings' or 'punctuation only'. Then people
would be forced to think about how to communicate
without plain letters. Emoticons are about
the closest text messaging gets to creativity.

I think Prince should get royalties from
the texting community, because song listings
from his albums reveal the foundation of
the form.

It would be cool if future phones could
use their internal camera to recognize
American Sign Language (faster to sign
than type, plus no keyboard needed).
This would allow texters the chance
to learn a whole new way of communicating
with their fellow humans, not just
an abbreviated form of one they know.