Following our conversation about words for TV remotes, a listener reports that his three-year-old son dubbed their device the emote control, which sounds like something we could all use from time to time. This is part of a complete episode.
The initialism LLAS, meaning “love you like a sister,” isn’t a texting phenomenon—it goes back 30 or 40 years to when girls would write each other letters. This is part of a complete episode.
How do you indicate sarcasm in a text message or an email? If winky emoticons aren’t your thing, try left-leaning italics, as recommended by sartalics.com. This is part of a complete episode.
Need to type something in Linear B or Mayan? Want to make Japanese emoticons? Now you can. Grant explains why the release of Unicode 6 has many typescript aficionados doing the happy dance. This is part of a complete episode.
Predictive text on cellphones can result in some amusing accidental substitutions. The word for that: textonym. This is part of a complete episode.
Whoever wrote “The Book of Love” neglected to include the handy emoticon <3, which looks like a heart if you turn your head sideways. Grant and Martha talk about how that bit of affectionate shorthand can function as a verb, and about...