To The Letter

(First published in my column, The Nature of Things)

It’s great being back in the community where I grew up.  I’ve reconnected with old friends (not all of them are so old), and I have been thoroughly enjoying the town and the country and landmarks that are so familiar.  

As the old adage goes, one supposedly can never go back home, but I’ve not found that to be true in my case.  Still, these are very different times from the ones I knew when I was here before.  Much as I have changed in the interceding decades, so, too, has the world.

And while it may sound nostalgic for me to say the world seemed a much simpler place to navigate back then, I’m convinced there’s enough solid evidence to back the claim sufficiently. 

One particular change that, as a writer, I find most troubling, is the adulteration of the English language actively underway by the proliferation of acronyms in our daily life—as if the acts of reading and writing need to be hurried up to keep pace with the rest of our craziness we pretend is improvement.  Honestly, one must practically carry a translation guide to crack the code of common text messages sent by anyone under the age 35, what with all the LOL’s and BTW’s and NRN’s.  

Unfortunately, the popular use of acronyms in substitution of actual words has actually breeched the barriers of what, heretofore, was considered “slang” or “street talk,” and crept into the more professional realms of communication as well.  Just try reviewing any document related to the health care industry and your eyes will glaze over in PTSD flashbacks of eating alphabet soup as a kid.  

I recently had a CAT-scan that came back negative for a DVT, and when the PA gave me the DX she said an NSAID would do the trick.  Trick?  Just deciphering the meaning of all that was dang-near a miracle in itself. 

But that’s not the worst of it.  The real danger becomes evident when a person mixes up an acronym, or mistakes one for the wrong meaning, because at this point, the same combination of letters can actually have multiple meanings. 

Just the other day at the doctor’s office the receptionist asked me if I was happy with my PCP.  Aghast, I told her I don’t even like taking prescription drugs, let alone recreational narcotics. 

I went home and read through my email, and a friend of mine was talking about the BLM rally he attended in downtown L.A.  I wrote back asking him what stake the Bureau of Land Management has in such a densely populated area, and he simply responded with LOL! and several laughing/crying faces. This is how we communicate now, barely a step above the grunt and cluck between Krul and Grom.

All this to say, as the world spins on its axis at an ever-increasing rate, I’ve found comfort in coming home to a place where things have remained at a pace that’s a tad bit more mellow, and people aren’t so worried with being up on the latest and greatest in technological advancements, still favoring natural life to a virtual reality.  

Although, just the other day I was reading about how the developing technology with A.I. is going to change the world in the very near future, and I thought, Well shoot, out here we’re way ahead of the game on this one.  We’ve been A.I.-ing cattle for years now.