The English Language Goes Sideways

I was too embarrassed to ask my niece, from whom I'd just received an e-mail in which she signed off with <3 at the end, what that code meant. I'd seen the symbol before and assumed it meant hugs or something like that, so I finally Googled it. The urban dictionary site where I was led to, explained that if you turn your head to a 90-degree angle, you'll see a heart. HUH? Now, I have to turn my head sideways to read an e-mail?

Whatever happened to saying love you, love ya, or even, lu?

Kids! That's what's happened. They've created a new language. A language I'm pretty sure isn't a class choice between taking either Spanish or French.

While software developers are writing their own codes, kids are busy creating and ever-changing their own symbolism. Probably so parents don't know what they're talking about!

When my father forwarded me an e-mail he received from someone that had signed it TTYL, I wasn't sure what it meant, so off to Google I went.

Speaking of this urban language, LOL wasn't hard to get. That does mean Lots of Love. Right? And ROTFL means Ran Out To Find Lunch. Doesn't it?

Back to my dad for a second, he knew about Google before anyone had even heard of it. I remember him calling me, "You gotta use this new Web site, it's called, Google." My initial reaction was, "HUH?" Of course today, along with my daily dose of celebrity gossip, checking my horoscope and watching the news on-line, I wonder ... how did I ever get through the day without the Internet, secret codes, Google and all?

I must run now, because I'm on deadline and there's a rerun of "Seinfeld" on in the other room, one that always leaves me ROTFLOL, so I'll TTYL.