Do you speak Emoji?

A lament among older people is that young people today cannot string together a complete sentence. When asked a question, the young person will reply in a series of grunts and groans, peppered with a few words here and there. No wonder companies still invest heavily in public speaking skills for employees.

Let us now look at the written word. The majority of our communication today is by SMS or short messaging service. Whether you use a messaging app(lication) or conventional SMS, each piece of communication is probably going to be around 140 characters or less (Tweets included). It is bad enough that text language is a whole new field of learning, now we add Emoji, which is defined as:

a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion in electronic communication.

Contrary to popular belief, Emoji-speak is not the domain of the younger crowd. The people who send me emoticons and stickers are generally over 50 years old! While I do use some icons, I have yet to discover the whole lot of pictures and their meanings. I suppose there are so many puzzled people like me in the world. Hence this online Emoji dictionary!

Has Emoji-speak become a new language? I do not know, neither do I want to speculate.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Emoji could well be the epitome of this idiom! :)

Only interesting people need apply

I hope to gathering this group of people soon and it will be open for whom are interesting!

What is wrong with this sentence? A lot. So, for those whose English is less than perfect, I will first dissect the sentence and correct the mistakes.

Original: "I hope to gathering this group of people soon"
Correct: "I hope to gather this group of people soon"
The correct form of the verb is "to gather". "Gathering" is the continuous tense of the verb (in this context) or could be a noun meaning a get-together e.g. "a gathering of this group of people".

Original: "and it will be open for whom are interesting!
Correct: "and it will be open to those who are interested!"
"Interesting" describes a person (in this context) who is fun to be around or is unusual in some way or another. "Interested" describes the person who is connected to the group's purpose or topic of discussion in some way or another.

"Open for" is generally used in a shop or business e.g. "we are open for business". When talking about a person or a specific proposal in the future, we use "open to".

"Whom" and "who" can be very confusing for the non-English user. I will not try to explain. Suffice it to say that this sentence will be correct with "those who" rather than "for whom".

What made me laugh about this sentence was the entire meaning at face value. This group is only open to those people who are fun to be around and/or are unique or unusual in some way! In other words, if you are a boring person, we do not want you. Knowing the writer of the sentence, this is far from the truth! The group is open to any woman who is interested in learning from other women and making new friends.

So, if you are not proficient in writing English, be careful what you write. It may backfire on you, while leaving you bewildered as to why. Consult a grammar book or a friend before you unleash your creativity in words.

Happy writing!

Less jargon, less paper used

The Singapore government is continuing its efforts to write simply so that the average person can understand "the fine print", otherwise known as Terms and Conditions. To be honest, how many of us actually read every word of the T&Cs before we agree? I certainly do not.

Therein lies the root of all legal disputes. We sign our lives away without realising what we are resigning ourselves to.

To communicate better with the general public and to reduce the number of disputes by frustrated customers, this new government initiative is bringing more benefits than expected. People now understand the new government policies, while government agencies and all other companies that produce contracts (e.g. banks, insurance companies) have reduced the amount of paper needed to print the documents. Win-win situation all around!

Communication is all about getting the message understood. Simplifying the language is one step towards that goal.

Maybe more people will start writing, rather than lament that writing is so difficult.

Give it a try! Write simply!

Play on words = great headline

The recent scandal over an American-owned meat supplier in China has once again opened up a can of worms over food safety in China.

What amused me most about this saga has nothing to do with food. The headline in the newspaper article caught my attention and sent me into peals of laughter. What a lovely play of words! Kebabs are pieces of meat on a skewer and put over a barbeque pit to cook. Barbeque restaurants in China are a common sight. So why not the pun?

Well done, The Straits Times sub-editors!