HAN WKND!

Hi everyone

I found our dicussions and surveys about mobile phones last Thursday really interesting.

To sum up, we found out that:
- the most popular mobile make was Nokia
- the most annoying habit among mobile phone users was speaking too loud and too much in public places.

Now, here you are some information in case you'd like to learn more about mobile phones. It has been adapted from www.learnenglish.org.uk which is a didactic webpage linked to the British Council for learners and teachers of English.

MOBILE PHONES

When Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it was a revolution in communication. For the first time, people could talk to each other over great distances almost as clearly as if they were in the same room. Over the last two decades a new means of spoken communication has emerged: the mobile phone.

The modern mobile phone is a complex version of the walkie-talkie. In the 1940s, researchers experimented with using radio masts to pick up signals. (Scientists referred to each mast’s reception area as being a separate “cell”; this is why in many countries mobile phones are called “cell phones”.) However, 1940s technology was very primitive, and the “telephones” were enormous boxes which had to be transported by car.

The first mobile telephone call was made in 1973 by Dr Martin Cooper. When his invention was complete, he tested it by calling a rival scientist to announce his success. Within a decade, mobile phones became available to the public. In Britain the mobile phone quickly became synonymous with the “yuppie”.

But in the mid-90s, cheaper handsets and cheaper prices meant that everyone could have a mobile phone. And the giant plastic bricks of the 80s had evolved into little objects. In every pub and restaurant you could hear the buzz of mobiles ringing and registering messages, also with primitive versions of the latest pop songs.

Younger readers will be amazed to know that, not long ago, people made spoken arrangements to meet at a certain place at a certain time. Somewhere around the new millennium, this practice disappeared. Meeting times became approximate, subject to change at any moment under the new means of communication: the Short Message Service (SMS). Going to be late? Send a text message! It takes less effort than arriving on time.

Like email before it, the text message has altered the way we write in English. The160-character limit has led to a new version of English for fast and instantaneous communication. Traditional rules of grammar and spelling are much less important when you’re sitting on the bus, hurriedly typing “Will B 15min late - C U @ the bar. Sorry! :-)”.

Mobile phones are now vital for people. Mobiles have become more and more advanced, with cameras and internet. And in the next couple of years, we can expect to see the arrival of the “third generation” of mobile phones: powerful micro-computers with broadband internet access, TV, internet files and video clips.

Alexander Graham Bell would be amazed if he could see how far the science of telephony has progressed in less than 150 years. If he were around today, he might say: “That’s gr8! But I’m v busy rite now. Will call U 2nite.”

To finish, here you are the most common abbreviations in English (so that you can find out what this post's title means):
GR8 Great
C u l8r See you later
BBFN Bye bye for now
KIT Keep in touch
THNQ Thank you
XLENT Excellent
LOL Lots of laugh
@ At
B Be
B4 Before
HAND Have a nice day
ILUVU I love you
PCM Please call me
PPL People
RU Are you?
SOM1 Someone
WANT Want to
WKND Weekend
X Kiss
XOXOX Hugs and kisses
2DAY Today
2MORO Tomorrow
2NITE Tonight
4 For