Before there was 1337 speak...

An interesting post on the jargon of various trades at the Modern Mechanix blog, "OLD WORDS GET NEW MEANING IN Queer Trade Lingoes" from the February, 1933, Popular Science. The section on "Ham Jargon"bears some resemblance to 1337 speak, for similar reasons of efficiency.

Since his language is generally talked via the air in dots and dashes, he has been driven to cut everything clown to the “bones. “Old man” becomes OM; “young lady,” YL; “nothing doing,” XD; “see you later,” CUL; and “fine business,” FB.

I'm totally going to start using "FB" in my chats.

dudes, I need professor advice

Question from friend via Facebook...

Are we confirming or ignoring friend requests from our students?

My response:

Because I teach about writing, new media, online culture, and professional communication, I see Facebook as an extension of my teaching. I accept student friend requests because participating online like this is part of my pedagogy. Therefore, I seek to model good, professional, ethical online participation and "friending" them and allowing them to see how I manage my online identity as *part* of my professional identity is in my teaching perview. For those who teach in other areas, the purpose and boundaries are less clear. It's up to you. If you do deny them, however, I'd include an explanatory note that you are using Facebook for personal reasons and I'd change my settings so only friends can see your content. I think we're either all in or we have to use social networking spaces privately.