Tuesday, November 17, 2009

twit

ok so nobody writes a blog any more.
we all do that twitter thing.
but really, 140 characters?
has our attention span become so feeble?
i say if a point is worth making, it's worth labouring.
y uz 1 wrd wen u can uz 1,000?
here we are, english speakers, blessed by the rich history and evolution of our mother tongue and all its origins.
the descendants of those whose well chosen words changed the world, wooed the ladies, reduced the hardest bastard to a quivering wreck with a well aimed turn of phrase.
i'll admit, there is merit in the need to be concise; i enjoy 20/20 cricket but it's nothing compared to the ridiculous glory of an ashes test.
abe lincoln's gettysburg address is famously short but nonetheless, a powerful and stirring call to arms at a time when the union craved nothing less.
but the gettysburg tweet would have read:
"4 score and 7 years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty. now let's not fuck it up."
my fear is that as we encourage ourselves to communicate with fewer characters, we end up communicating with less character.

3 comments:

Beks said...

The ending was very well put, and you just have such a powerfully illustrative ability with words!!! I am addicted to your blogs, tweets, lyrics, etc. All the best to you and yours. x

Anonymous said...

Did you know that Shakespeare was actually from Sicily? Pizza is ours, we are still fighting over Columbus but he is one of us... now we want paternity for Shakespeare too. Ah! I'm not kidding... it's actually an interesting story. Anyway... I'm digressing. Glad to have you back writing a blog. I shamelessly gave up and tried this twitter thing... it's frustratng... both for the writer and the reader. But since everyone is using it I figured out it was the only way to keep up with English friends. But you are very welcome to write a blog longer than 140 characters whenever you feel like it! And it's not the first time I tell you this. Have a nice day!

Craig said...

Few useful comments fit within the Twitter restriction. "I love you" is one of the exceptions.