{ RSS }

The Evolution of E-mail Phraseology

All spoken words are composed of sounds, but not all sounds form words. I think I have come across a new category of words. They are sounds you might make in a casual face to face conversation. They allow you to express yourself and show interest in what the speaker is saying without interrupting. When these sounds are written/typed I like to call them “sound words”.

I noticed a while back, that in e-mail conversations and instant messages, that I started to use these sound words more and more often. I have several ideas on why I am using these sound words. Its possible that I have slouched into gramatical lazyness. I never remember using these kinds of words when I would hand write letters to friends and family. And even now when I hand write a note or letter I don’t use sound words. For the most part it seems that when ever I do use sound words its in a conversational environment such as e-mail or instant messenger.

Because e-mail and IM’s can reach the recipient in a fraction of a second I think those forms of communication tend to seem more conversational in nature. In face to face conversation we use these “words” with out really thinking, they are second nature. While writing in the conversational frame of mind it makes sense to me that I would use the same kind of sound words as if I was engaged in a verbal exchange. I think its my brain attempting to add color or feeling to an otherwise bland medium.

Some of the sound words listed below I use often. Others I have picked from the brains of my good friends. Their is no hard rule on the spelling, they just tend to look like they sound. What sound words do you use??

Sound Words

pffft, grrrrr, ack, blah, hmmm, fneh, gahh, nyeah, ahhhh