Blame Jay Leno! He nominated the first one 'Vintage Advertising-Old Automobiles' (536 pp hardback Limited Edition) as his 2010 Motoring Book of the Year, and that kick-started what almost cost me my marriage as I became truly obsessed with the project - all books on Graphic Design.

Yes there is a 23 and a 24 and 25 on the stocks plus a new project to concide with the 100th Anniversary of the outbreak of WW1. Then there are the old music projects,plus paintings to be done of our new region in France - the Correze, so it keeps me off the streets!

I watched the programme on SMS and they showed examples, and I really felt I had landed on the Moon as I couldn't work it out at all! At 73 I think I am really getting too old!

Cor blimey.

I just scrambled down the apples and pears to breakfast.

Washed me boat race and said mornin' to me trouble and strife.

What am I like?

Just for you Mike.

Sorry, a little short of time this morning but I will endeavour to get back here later. good subject.

I frequently get annoyed by textspeak etc.

Like you, I don't mind when somerthing adds to English, but when it is just an abreviation it is awful. A certain amount has always happened away from it's English roots. Let's face it, sox is a sensible abbreviation of English socks but when the Americans dropped the u from colour it veered too far away.

Roger

Hi Dave,
My Favorite Subject. Looking forward to this forum. I am excited to read all the responses
I am on my way out of town but I will be keeping my eye out for more topics on this. I will be back later to post as I do not have time at the moment.
Be Blessed Dave

Kathy Hamilton/simikathy

Hi Dave & All,

What a great topic. The most important part is getting back to basics. Many have to learn or should I say re-learn the difference between their, they're and there, your and you're etc.. Past, present and future and as you can imagine the list goes on and on and on.

Then we can start talking about the richness of the English language which is being butchered day in day out.

Idioms and add ons in many cases enrich a language as well as using international foreign language add ons.

As for the 20th anniversary of SMS all I can say is that it's a totally new language and for me being bilingual (Hebrew and English) I had to learn all the short cuts in both languages. :)

Roger, dropping the 'U" from color was brilliant and simply dropping an unnecessary vowel.

Shalom,

Peter

Such a wide subject. There are so many areas of difference in the way that English is pronounced even within a small distinct area and that is, as in any other language, important.

In the UK there are still many dialects and dialects BUT the sad thing is that these are being blurred by the textspeak and modern voice communications. Except for the very strongest of the accents I can understand a Geordie from Newcastle, England. Why? Because t.v. has broadened the general spread of regional accents. This is realistic in drama but its not just the wider understanding that is the problem but that the softening of these accents comes with a loss of words and phrases that have years of cultural heritage tied to them.

The UK is not alone in this. No doubt the US with it's much bigger geographic scale and population suffers the same dilution. I bet that there are readers here at Adland who would have struggled to understand a Southerner or a Texan a number of years ago. Have we learned or has the accent been softened? With wider understanding comes a reduction in vocabulary.

Yes, English is a compilation of myriad languages roots and thrives on change and growth but the reduction in vocabulary in common useage is sad.

One thing I'm sure of is that English will survive. It is robust and flexible.

Roger