“Zipping” instead of “Yippee-ing”

I send text messages. Lots of them. I'm fairly proficient in sending and receiving the little mini messages via my cell phone. I think they are the primo tool in communicating quick clear thoughts.

I even taught my mom to send me text messages from her e-mail account. She liked it so well, she added the ability to send and receive texts to her cell phone. More often than not, she e-mails me, it goes to my phone as a text and I have instant messaging.

I don't have to log into a web browser or e-mail account. IT, the message, just pops up on my cell phone.

I read IT. I respond to IT. Quick. Simple. Easy. Better than twittering. Better than tweeting. Better than e-mailing... and there is rarely a loss of service. No site down... Even if I can't make or receive a cell phone call, and that sometimes still happens out in the boonies where I reside, I can send and receive text messages. Data gets through when voices cannot.

This past week at work I was sending and receiving text messages from about five people at once when I went to write "Yippee!" (I am a fairly enthusiastic and optimistic person and use !'s often) as a reply to one message. (Note: I refuse to turn sending a text into a verb, so I won't say "I've hit a low in texting," but you might...)

I was typing on the phone pad, using my short cut words. Just as I went to press "send" to send the message along, I realized the message ready to send, typed in the shortcut manner, actually said "Zipped!"

Because letters share numbers on the key pad, I'd hit a new low in communicating the appropriate message ... I was getting ready to send "Zipped!" instead of "Yippee!"

Then I remembered another "shortcut" failure of sending a message from my phone key pad: When using the numerical keypad, with its properly assigned letters, I can type "home," but the word that pops up is "good." I've often sent "good" when I meant to send "home."

So, this led me to wonder: How many times have I sent "I am good. Zipped!" when I intended to send "I am home. Yippee!" Ugh! Too funny, I thought. But at least that explains the "huh?"s that I get from time to time.

Moral of the story: Be careful when sending a text message and using short cuts. And remember, communication lies with the receiver, not the sender. You can mean to say something, but if it isn't the message received, you sent the wrong one!

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