Re: Letters with **three** cases?


Lee Sau Dan <danlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:87ekadakz1.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >>>>> "Seán" == Seán O'Leathlóbhair <jwlawler@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
> Seán> I had expected that many people would have answered this
> Seán> one. It is "Short Message Service". This is a feature
> Seán> available on most or all GSM mobile (cell) phones. It is
> Seán> also commonly called "text".
>
> "Text"? I've never seen such a usage. People say "SMS". This is
> true in Germany as well as Hong Kong. "SMS" is also the term used by
> the mobile phone providers in their phamplets, service contracts, etc.

There are indeed countries in the world where this feature is primarily
known as "text", while the term "SMS" is hardly ever used in the speech.
"text" (or "txt") is also used as a verb, :-) especially by the teenagers:
"Did you text him yet?"

In the countries where texting is used a lot, the popularity of it
is usually due to cheapness of it. It is orders (plural intended)
of magnitude cheaper than two/three minute voice calls. Received
messages are stored in the receiving cellphone memory, so
there is no necessity to involve telcom mail boxes which may
potentially involve extra charges and retrieval delays.

Cellphones with voice recognition can prepare draft messages
out of a spoken message. This can be reviewed, editted
and sent to a single number or distributed to many numbers
according to a predefined list.

pjk

> (The German translation is "Kurznachricht", but people usually say
> "SMS". Like "Fernsprecher" vs. "Telephon". A German teacher of mine
> once wanted to make a sentence with "SMS". But she didn't know now to
> pluralize this word. She asked the class. Most students, including
> me, suggested "SMSen".)
>
>
> Seán> It allows you to send short (usually <= 160 characters)
> Seán> messages from one mobile phone to another. It is very
> Seán> popular in Europe and Asia but it does not seem to be
> Seán> popular in the USA.
>
> Asia? Not sure. Since voice calls in Hong Kong are so cheap, people
> simply don't bother to type such messages. Making a call and telling
> the recipient the message verbally is often cheaper than sending an
> SMS. And you don't waste time typing the message, and you get
> immediate verbal acknowledgement from the recipient.
>
> In Europe and Japan, it is quite popular, though. This is because an
> SMS costs much less than making a 1-minute voice call. (Japan doesn't
> use GSM. They have their home-brewed PHS system.)
>
>
>
> --
> Lee Sau Dan
>
> E-mail: danlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee

.

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