betabethany

1992 "Locked" note from Dahlia R. to Beth M.

A little over 20 years ago, the first text message was sent.  Google "text messaging ruining language" and you get all types of editorials bemoaning the death of language due to texting.  People claim it was is a radical new phenom--but I think not.  Before OMG and LMAO and bad Mumblecore films named after text-isms, middle school girls were rocking in LYLAS and W/B.  In fact, in 1992 in Schertz, Texas a young girl name Dahlia Rangel rocked the "new speak" with slashes.   Here's a few:

B/F/F/L: Best Friends For Life
L/Y/L/A/S: Love You Like A Sister
D/S/A: Don't Show Anyone
W/B: Write Back
J/J: Just Joking (pun intended)

Text-isms were just a natural progression from middle school notes.  Language flowing with the times.  What we should bemoan is the "soon-to-be-if-not-already" lost art of note folding.  My niece is ten and has an iPad that she uses in school.  I keep forgetting to ask if her friends and her still pass notes around.  I can't imagine she does.  She's missing out on that origami right of passage as a middle school girl: how to fold the "locked" note.  I know that Dahlia was a pro!