[SOC] Evolving language

[JMcAulay]

At 07:56 AM 06/17/2003 -0700, Bob Baxter AA7EQ wrote:
>
>From: "Dennis" <ve3vg@sympatico.ca>
>
>> Whats a -
>> Hoover tourist ??
>
>A depression era hobo--Hoover (Herbert not J. Ed.) was widely blamed for
>the depression.

I think the depression was caused by lack of dirt.  Farming, you might
imagine, is difficult without dirt.  And as those of us older than dirt
know, most of it did not appear until after Hoover left the White House.  I
can still hear the decompsition of those rocks.

>> Irish mail car ?
>
>A children's  4 wheel riding riding cart propelled by hand with a T
>handle mounted in the center.  Widely advertised in the magazines of the
>30s.

To me, "cart" is hardly the word.  I drooled quite a lot over that
handsomely-designed conveyance.  Never had the opportunity to ride in one,
and maybe it would have been a real bear to operate, but it sure looked
keen.  (keen:  adj. In contemporary terms, "bad")

>On the other thread currently running---I heard a fellow sending
>QC---didn't have the nerve to answer.

Probably good.  He may have been trying to contact a British Barrister for
free legal advice. 

Why use "BTU" when "K" has meant the same thing going back about 150 years?
 After keyboard gear came along, Western Union and other wire-line ops
began using BK, maybe because line noise could cause a stray character to
show up now and then.  I never heard that "BK" was an abbreviation for
"back," I always thought it meant "break," not that it matters.
 
The early 'puter communuicators weren't hams, so a whole new batch of
abbreviations developed.  I don't operate CW enough, but now that many of
those computer types are using CW, I would not be surprised to hear things
like "AFK" instead of "QRX."  So what, as long as it's understood.  It's
just as easy to send, anyway.  Surely we all have heard "MY QTH IS...."
C'mon, the idea of abbreviating is to make things shorter.  "BTU"?  I won't
complain to anyone else who uses it -- but not for me, thanks.  "K" is
quicker, so is "KN."

73
John WA6QPL  SOC 263