By Winston A. Marbella
It’s official: the OED (Oxford English Dictionary), the venerable gatekeeper of the English language, has accepted OMG (oh my gosh) and LOL (laughing out loud). Now it is perfectly all right to say, OMG, my BFF and I are LOL over this latest decision of OED, IMHO (in my humble opinion). BTW, BRB (be right back).
Language reflects the subtle changes that happen in our lives—eventually. When it finally does we can be fairly sure the subtle changes have in fact become sea changes.
When word of mouth was the main way we transmitted news, we asked ourselves, “Have you heard the news today?” And this was reflected in the idiomatic expression that news passed from mouth to mouth, much like gossip.
Eventually radio became the chief carrier of news. But our language did not change. We still asked, “Have you heard the news today?”
Language reflected a sea change when newspapers became the main purveyor of news: “Have you read the news today?”
The invention of television radically transformed the news. Although TV was bred mainly as a medium of entertainment, its immediacy and intrusiveness (it sat in our living rooms and eventually our bedrooms, too) totally dominated our lives—and our culture. We were soon asking ourselves, “Have you seen the news tonight?”
History rewriten
Media historians say that if not for the daily carnage that primetime news brought home, the American people would not have turned against the US involvement in Vietnam so violently as they did. The pioneering 24-hour news channel, CNN, brought us the Gulf War up-close and personal. We watched in horror as the first massive terrorist attack brought down the towering symbols of the American century live from New York City on 9/11.
For some time, print journalism seemed on its way to dying. But it bounced back and thrived with television, although network news became its Big Brother in audience reach and impact. Print journalists, however, retained their influence over the elite audiences that shaped opinion, the movers and shakers of politics, the arts, and much of literati and glitterati.
Computers and the Internet soon introduced new technologies that would transform the communication landscape—not only how we got the news, but more importantly how we worked, played, and generally lived our lives.
The laptop, cell phone, and now the highly portable tablet computers gave technology a mobile platform to keep us informed on the go.
It will not be long before all this technology will reshape also the way we keep abreast of the news. In fact, a technological threshold was breached last year with hardly anyone noticing it—for the first time in our habitation of this planet more people got the news on the Internet than from print.
Transformed, transported
This technological transformation was no less profound than when we first landed on the moon. In those days, the computers that made possible the first lunar landing were housed in buildings. Today we carry more computing power in our smart phones.
Things will surely begin to change more rapidly than we can blink an eye. Inevitably our language is beginning to reflect this sea change.
In launching the iPad2 early this year, the naturally effusive Steve Jobs was brief, even terse. He delivered his launch spiel in 229 words! Hear ye:
“I’ve said this before, but thought it was worth repeating: It’s in Apple’s DNA that winnietechnology alone is not enough. That it’s technology married with the liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our hearts sing.
“And nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices.
“And a lot of folks in this tablet market are rushing in and they’re looking at this as the next PC. The hardware and the software are done by different companies. And they’re talking about speeds and feeds just like they did with PCs.
“And our experience and every bone in our body says that that is not the right approach to this. That these are post-PC devices that need to be easier to use than a PC. That need to be even more intuitive than a PC. And where the software and the hardware nd the applications need to intertwine in an even more seamless way than they do on a PC.
“And we think we’re on the right track with this. We think we have the right architecture not just in silicon, but in the organization to build these kinds of products.
“And so I think we stand a pretty good chance of being pretty competitive in this market. And I hope that what you’ve seen today gives you a good feel for that.”
Gone in days
As usual loyal Apple fans stormed the stores and cleaned the shelves. We will have to wait for months to get ours.
Meanwhile, the media mogul Rupert Murdoch is doing fine with his digital newspaper. The New York Times, too, has started charging for its digital edition. Many more will follow.
When we start asking ourselves, “Have you browsed the news today/” we know that the future is here.
Language eventually catches up—even if we have a lot of catching up to do on our … browsing, IMHO.
(BTW, comments? E-mail Marbella International Business Consultancy: mibc2006@gmail.com. BRB)
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