I’m a little lispy right now because I am getting my teeth fixed. Yes, as you might guess, it’s pretty hot. So I think I need to create a lisping keyboard to mirror the actual sounds coming out of my mouth. I would call it the “Lithpingth Keyboardh.”
I think the whole “Hello???” phone-answering method is outdated. What exactly are we answering anyway? It seems we answer whatever it is with another question. I was always taught not to answer a question with a question. So this makes no sense to me.
At one point “Hello???” was necessary because nobody knew who was on the other end. It sounds a little unsure, a little unclear. (I’m sure Alexander Graham Bell thought of caller ID but just didn’t have the time…what with all the crackers and all.) So now that we have caller ID I think we can officially drop the tentative “Hello???” And yes, we have some super cool alternative greetings in recognition of the caller. But in general I say people are clinging to the “Hello???” whether they know who it is or not.
I hate when I log into my Yahoo email and it reads, “Welcome, Melissa! You have 0 unread messages.” Do I really need an exclamation point? I hardly think that is something to be excited about.
I don’t understand why “email” can be a verb, yet “voicemail” cannot. They both make great nouns. I read my email. I checked my voicemail. (Why are we always “checking” our voicemail? What are we checking for? Termites? The mumps?) So nouns are good. But verbs? Not so much. One could say, “Hey I emailed you yesterday,” but only a tool would say “Hey, I voicemailed you yesterday.”
When leaving a voicemail (or, should I say “When voicemailing someone…”?) the “It’s me” isn’t necessary. It is? If I know you well enough to warrant “It’s me” status then you really don’t have to tell me it’s you…do you? I'll probably figure that one out. Nobody ever says “Hi, it’s me” in an email. But I think this will be my new thing just to prove a point.
P.S. It’s me.
