From the desk of Richard Ford

G'Day All,

I know that in the past some of my comments have riled the list and been
a cause for complaint.

Some did not like what I wrote and even more baffling, some did not like
=how= I wrote - mainly how well I allegedly strung words together.  :-\

Anyway - the reason for this dribble is that someone in Beijing has had
the good foresight to pay me for my words (Bless their little cotton
socks).  So please check out (starting from this month - July) the
BeijingTalk or ShanghaiTalk magazine (yup - I'm syndicated!) and look
for my "CyberSociety" column.

I humbly also solicit any suggestions from this list - being on the
forefront of China and IT - my contracted topic.

Anyway - to save you guys the effort of locating the aforementioned rag
please find for one time only, my inaugural column attached below.

Cheers,
RF.

CyberSociety July 2004

It was the may day holiday period and I was in Hong Kong, visiting my
parents as they stopped over on the way back to Australia from Italy.

Of interest that first dinner was what my father uttered to my mother
who was dutifully tapping away on her mobile phone. My father requested
that my mother “stop texting on that damn phone!”. Now it wasn't my
father's well developed sense of occasion that struck me, nor was it my
mother's until now, unknown dexterity with a diminutive handset. In a
fit of bewilderment on my behalf it was my father's use of the phrase
“texting” that made my ears ring.

Now my father is no spring chicken and is a published novelist and
journalist to boot. And when writing initial drafts, seems to still hold
some religious suffrage to the good old fashioned duo of lead wrapped in
wood accompanied by pulped tree.

Old fashioned, that is who my father is, yet “old fashioned” is how I
felt, as I don't even use the word “texting”! Apart from “texting” as my
father casually, and without pause uttered, it occurred to me that many
new words have entered our vernacular. And by “our” that is the non-tech
folk that make up most of society. 

So where do these phrases come from? Some are the result of the
popularity of technology, like upload,download and modem. Others because
they represent a new concept; “googling” is now synonymous with using
Google.com to search the Internet and “Spam” no longer refers to canned
meat.

However not everyone in the world is happy with this trend of carefree
word adoption. The French Cultural Ministry has banned the use of the
word “e-mail” in all government publications. Instead of using the words
from another language, the correct French phrase of “courier
electronique" should always be used.

So which new words or phrases are next to be uttered by my father as he
childes mum for inappropriate table etiquette? Maybe that answer lies in
the answer to this question; “Which new technology is next to catch on
with a crazed force?”

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