THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA

I've always said that I speak Californian...not English...but Californian.  And somehow I slid through my high school and college years not being forced to learn enough of a foreign language to be literate in anything other than Californian.  (No, the Taco Bell menu doesn't count as knowing Spanish...'Chalupa' is not a real word, and singing enough latin songs in Choir...well let's just say Latin has a small following in the spoken word department). 

So who knew our phones had more language skills than I do?  All this time I've been thinking that a person who types/sends emails from a Audiovox phone was...

1. Insane
2. Geek
3. Thumb overachiever
4. All of the above

What I didn't realize that there's this 'helper' language on the phone to jump start your responses.  The Tegic T9 language is a 'predictive text' language that will learn as you type.  There's even a T9 dictionary that in the margin gives some interesting tidbits that let you know that 22663 [translation: as a matter of fact] men are more likely than women to send a mobile instant message or text message at a busy meeting [30% versus 17%], but 3949 [translation: For what it's worth], women are more likely than men to send one when they are using crowded public transportation [41% versus 30%], and in bed [26% versus 14%].  .....hmmm.... okay I'm a geek but I don't take my cell phone to the bedroom..495946 [translation:  If you know what I mean]

So on more googling it appears that this is called “Textonyms” and T9 isn't the only language out there but a whole category of predictive languanges.  24868 [Translation: But in the Meantime] T9 is a subsidiary of AOL .... I mean ..... who knew that what I see as a form of leet speak was going to be turned into a standard for cell phone messaging.

Once again proving that one should 78369 or better yet 7836 [translations:  see below].

P.S.  I noticed in Cnet's reviews they say the Audiovox is “difficult to sync to a corporate email server”... well if you are as blonde as I was yes...otherwise... I disagree on that one. 

Translation:  78369 = Read the Documentation/Directions

Translation 7836 = Read the F....... well you know..  the manual