Re: OT-ish: txt - Could it replace Standard Written English?

Tristan scripsit:

> 'Face to face' apparently (i.e. IRL/In Real Life) (I had to check it to.
> It seems some people don't know the real way to distinguish between the
> real world and the Net...). ILNY is 'I Love New York'.
"Face to face" and its abbreviation "FTF" are way older than the (popular)
Internet, and don't mean the same thing as "IRL".  It's only by extension
that the Internet is not RL; fundamentally, RL is opposed to various
game/acting contexts, as in "Our characters hate each other, but IRL we're
good friends."  For me, anyhow, Net interaction *is* part of RL.

Returning to FTF, it always entails physical presence, as in:

        I beat So-and-so at chess!
        Really?  PBM [play by mail] or FTF?

--
John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all.  There
are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language
that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.
        --_The Hobbit_

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