Yr Obt Svt

Thanks to an article in the London Times concerning an attempt to set up an Academy of English to serve as the final arbiter of the language, a bit a firestorm has erupted on Twitter. At least it has on the pages of the British authors, comedians, and all-around good guys, Stephen Fry (@StephenFry) and Charlie Higson (@monstroso).  Both Messrs Fry and Higson have come out against such a notion, which is right and just.  In fact, I think so little of the notion of establishing an academy that I didn’t even bother to read all of the article.  The first two or three sentences were sufficient.  Simply hanging on to the notion that a language–especially that world-engulfing monster, English–can be somehow fixed and confined is absurd.  It will be contorted and expanded and used in every which way imaginable whether there is a panel of experts involved or not.  English is a living language, and one cannot embalm a living thing.  Or, rather, one can make the attempt, but will only kill the thing he loves in the process.

Much of the fiasco seems to have been inspired by the various abbreviations that people use while texting or tweeting.  “You” becomes “u.”  “To” and “too” become “2.”  (We will assume that “two” becoming “2″ is acceptable to all.)  Now, I am speaking as someone who quite purposely avoids such abbreviations.  I also avoid using emoticons in the hope that the person on the other end of the communication can understand when I intend to be humorous or something of a scamp simply from the way that I string words together.  Perhaps I am deluding myself or overestimating my abilities, but I am willing to live with the consequences involved.

Of course, the making of abbreviations is nothing new.  As Stephen Fry pointed out at some time some place* (I can’t remember where; it could have been on his blog, on something I watched on YouTube, on QI, on Twitter, in a column, or perhaps in some stray graffito, the one medium I can’t be certain that he hasn’t conquered), during the 18th century, when paper was what bandwidth is now, people abbreviated all the time.  Of course, having made this bald assertion, I couldn’t find any handy examples on the Internet,

but probably will some time in the future when I search for something like “French-Canadian bowling leagues” or “imbecility in 50-year-old fat men.”

Of course, the most famous of these abbreviations is “yr obt svt,” which stood for “your obedient servant” and was used at the end of letters the way that “sincerely” or “This is an attempt to collect a debt” are today.  As Twitterspeak, “yr obt svt” is elegant and mostly useless, a phrase which could be used to describe most of the best tweets posted on a random day.  In fact, I like it so much that I may never tweet anything else but “yr obt svt” ever again.  Excluding my researches into the life and works of Justin Bieber.

So, until the English Academy Police, Online Unit, hunts me down (or “hunt me down” if you are British), I’ll B talkin 2 ya or u or whtevr.

*Update:  It turned out to be in an episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.  Stephen’s comparison of text abbreviations and 18th century abbreviations begins at about 5:16 into the following video and continues through 5:40.