Socially Inept and Dull—or Semantically Innovative and Daring?:

The Language of Spods

I. Introduction *

A. Brief History of Talkers *

B. Basic Talker Usage *

II. Standard Language Features *

A. Features of Written Language *

B. Features of Spoken Language *

III. Spod Language Features *

A. Aspects of Written Language in Spodding *

B. Aspects of Spoken Language in Spodding *

C. A Note Regarding Gender Issues *

IV. What Type of Language is Spod Language? *

A. Compared with Written Language *

B. Compared with Spoken Language *

V. Conclusion *

VI. Bibliography *

VII. Appendices *

Appendix A.: Notes About the Conversation Logs *

Appendix B.: Log from Amnesia House *

Appendix C.: Log from Surfers *

I. Introduction

A. Brief History of Talkers

Ask the average person about forms of online communication, and he or she will probably tell you about email, newsgroups, and chat-rooms. The average person is not always aware of another, lesser-known form of communication: talkers. Talkers were developed alongside chat-rooms as online communication began to become popular with the general population. They began as MUDs (multi-user dimensions) and were originally online role-playing games, where each person logged in with a particular persona. Of course one feature of these games was the conversation that the characters had to use in order to work through the game together. This conversation eventually became the main focus for some users, and from these beginnings sprang talkers, which can be loosely defined as MUDs focused primarily on chatting to other people online (Goodman 127).

Since general knowledge of talkers is not as widespread as that of chat-rooms, they tend to have fewer people connected to them at any one given time. For most small talkers, their residents (regular users, more commonly known as "spods") are permanent characters who use the talker on a very regular basis. Many of these spods know each other in their everyday lives, and their online communication often refers to events that they have shared together. Compared to popular online chat-rooms, which, because of their popularity, can have thousands of new users each day, conversation between spods on talkers is often more concerned with continuing real-life events, since many of the users talk to each other online daily.

 

B. Basic Talker Usage

For the novice, initial usage of a talker can be somewhat bewildering. All main-room conversations appear on the screen in the order in which they were typed; many times one must pay close attention to what others say online in order to make any real sense of what appears on his or her screen. To ease the transition into the language and usage of talkers, many spods have posted online "introductions" to talkers in order to aid those who are new to this form of communication. One excellent example of such, taken from a spod’s homepage, is provided below:

"talkers

if you have used talkers much, then this page is probably not for

you. beginners, or those with little experience, read on...

what is a talker then?

well, basically it is what its name says. it allows people all around

the world to 'speak' to each other in a similar fashion to using the

telephone, but with advantages. the talkers allow you to talk to a

single person, a group of people, or everyone in the same 'room' as

you.

talkers work by allowing lots of people (some talkers have up to

400 people connected at times) to connect to a computer

somewhere on the planet, and then this central computer acts as a

sort of 'exchange' and takes all the incoming messages and sends

them out to the correct people.

how do I connect to a talker?

firstly, you have to be connected to the internet. that might sound

obvious, but if i didn't put it you could guarantee someone would

try...

you need to run a 'telnet' client on your computer. most internet

providers give you a telnet program when you subscribe. you can

use this, but there are better packages that allow multiple

connections (i.e. loadsa talkers). for now stick with one world

though, it's much simpler at first.

when you run your Telnet program, it asks for a 'host' to connect

to. this is the internet address of the talker you wish to use. the

address takes the form of and address, and a port. the port is

necessary, because some computers run multiple talkers, and you

want to connect to the right one. your telnet program may have

seperate areas for address and port, but if it doesn't then simply

put the two on the same line, but with a space between them. that

should work. press enter, wait a while and you should get a

message saying that you are connected, usually consisting of a

nice logo or something.

now what?

well, you are connected, and must enter a username. think of a

name for yourself. it can be your real name (not recommended), a

nickname, or just something you thought of on the spur of the

moment. keep it clean, and relatively short if possible. if, after you

enter your name it asks for a password, you have probably chosen

a name already in use, so pick another one. there ARE exceptions

to this rule, where talkers ask for a password even from new

users, so your best bet is to put a password in, and if you were

using a name already in use, then the talkers will say 'wrong

password' and end the connection.

now, you will be shown screenfulls of rules and other stuff. if you

want you can read these... mostly they are common sense. you

will be prompted to press enter or y a few times... do this. it may

also ask you if you are sure that you wanted to use the name you

first entered. answer as appropriate. finally you will probably be

prompted to enter continue or end. if you want to carry on,

enter continue.

well done... you have made it onto a talker for the first time.

i'm logged in... now what?

well, firstly, if you want to use this talker again, you must become

a 'resident'. this means that you will not have to go through all the

information screens at the start, and it will prevent others using

your name. it also enables you to have rooms of your own, but that

is an advanced feature. before you do anything you need to know

some comands. type help to get help on commands. the main

command you will need now is tell which, fairly obviously

enables you to tell someone something. to get residency you need

to ask a super user. to find out which super users are on at the

moment, type lsu. pick an su off the list and ask them for

residency. to do this type:

tell repton can I have residency please?

here, you would change repton for the name of a su who is

connected. they will then ask you a few questions and help you do

what is necessary. if in doubt ask a super user, it is their job to

help people who are confused, and most of them are friendly. you

will need to read the help system, type help to see how it works.

there are loads of commands, but you only need a few, usually on

the first help page or two. you can now proceed to talk to people,

and generally enjoy yourself.

useful stuff

talkers use shorthand in a similar fashion to CB users.. here is

some of it...

brb = be right back

bbl = be back later

bbs = be back soon

be4 = before

lol = laughs out loud

rotfl = rolls on the floor laughing

some1 = someone

ppl = people

these are some of many... if in doubt ask!

lag is another thing often mentioned. if a talker is lagging it means

that the data you type is taking a long time to get to whoever you

are telling. this is not good, obviously, but the internet is very slow,

and some people run talkers on slow machines that slow down

when they get busy.

so, what talkers are there?

loads. there are , literally, HUNDREDS of talkers running around

the world. i have included the ones i usually use below, and if your

browser is set up properly (!) then clicking on the link should take

you there...

surfers: surfers.org 4242

amesia house: amnesiahouse.org 2222

if you see me, repton, be sure to say hello!" (Everett)

II. Standard Language Features

A. Features of Written Language

Before looking at the features of the language of spodding, one needs to have a thorough understanding of the properties of both written and spoken language, since online communication seems to include both written and spoken qualities. As Rebecca Hughes states, "[s]peech and writing usually take place in very different contexts. These contexts can be described both in terms of the contexts of production and the influence of the context of reception" (123). In other words, the language choices made in both written and spoken discourse are influenced by the medium of communication and the presence or absence of active participants in the discourse.

Written language, even when informal, is generally more formal than spoken language. Writers have the opportunity to edit the words they put on the page, and often they do this several times before allowing others to read their written work. As Biber states, research indicates that "all informational discourse, technical or not, has a high lexical variety in contrast to interactive, affective types of discourse . . ." (112). This indicates that people make different word choices when writing than when speaking. For example, a written text usually has grammatical cohesion, a high lexical density and consistent verb tenses throughout the text (Hughes 29; Carter 165-246). Careful writers often use a high number of synonyms throughout a long document in order to provide variety for the reader, but they also use clever repetition in order to make specific points.

Since one person generally writes texts that are read by another at a later date, the informal written text most often takes on characteristics of a kind of written monologue, in either first or third person. Also, because of the possible limitation of a reader’s full understanding of a written text due to elapsed time, written texts generally must include additional explanations of the concepts or topics that they address—explanations that might be entirely unnecessary if the same concepts were spoken aloud to a physically present audience. Furthermore, even though a writer often takes account of his or her intended audience, writing is not usually, like speaking, actively influenced by an audience’s response.

Biber sums up these points thus: "[I]n terms of its linguistic characteristics, stereotypical speech is interactive, and dependent on shared space, time, and background knowledge; stereotypical writing has the opposite characteristics" (37). Similarly, the use of deixis is different in written texts than spoken texts. In written texts, "here," "that," "then," and similar words must be obviously defined with other words, usually before the deictic word is used. The written requirement for an explicit definition is in direct contrast to spoken discourse, where a simple pointing motion while the deictic word is spoken will often suffice.

Unlike most informal spoken interactions, written texts usually have a specific focus, or at least a definite structure. For example, newspaper articles center on one event, whereas letters center on several events but still work within a recognizable "letter" format. Although Biber states that personal letters "are typically produced under self-composed time constraints, and thus do not show careful word choice or a high informational density" and show "many of the same interactive and affective characteristics of conversation" (132), writers of personal letters must take account of the proximity of their reader in space and time. This proximity usually limits the "conversationality" of a text—written language, even the language of personal letters, usually functions best in the context of sentences that contain both subjects and predicates.

 

B. Features of Spoken Language

Spoken language, on the other hand, is usually less formal than written language. An exception to this rule is found in public spoken discourse, such as speeches, news broadcasts, and lectures. In these cases, however, the words that are spoken are usually written down beforehand, so they are either memorized or read from notes or cue cards. These types of speech are not representative of most spoken discourse. Biber states that "in terms of its linguistic characteristics, stereotypical speech is structurally simple, fragmented, concrete, and dependent on exophoric (situation-dependent) reference . . ." (37).

Spoken texts generally have a much lower lexical density than written texts, and verb tenses often vary throughout spoken discourse, especially during story-telling. As McCarthy shows, when telling a story, speakers usually begin with past tense verbs. As they move toward the middle of their stories, they often switch into the "historical present," where "events which are assumed to be past . . . because of the surrounding context are given present tense verbs" (Hughes 105), and at the end of the stories they return to their original past tense verbs. Acceptance of these phenomena are limited to oral narratives; the same listeners who readily accept oral narratives with the features described above would probably consider a written story with low lexical density and shifting verb tenses to be of substandard quality.

Deixis is a substantial part of spoken discourse. As Halliday asserts, "[w]ithin the actual words and sentences used there is bound to be much that is particular to the local situation or the shared experience of the individuals concerned" (62). It is easy for a listener to understand a speaker who says "Put that down right there" because both the speaker and listener share the same context. In fact, it would be unnatural for a speaker to say to a mover holding a vase, "Please put that blue vase on the round table" when there is only one vase and one table present. For the same reason, many parts of spoken speech are eliminated through the process of ellipsis, and utterances often lack a subject or predicate for brevity’s sake.

In conversations, speakers interact with and are influenced by the others involved in the conversation, so one person’s word choice is highly influenced by what he or she knows of his or her audience. Like writers, speakers often use the same words repeatedly; this repetition is usually not a stylistic device but rather a choice to use the simplest or shortest words that will explain a concept. Also, informal spoken conversations do not necessarily maintain any kind of specific focus throughout. Instead, a conversation will flow from topic to topic easily, with speakers taking turn-taking cues from each other, each drawing on what the other says and speaking whatever comes into his or her mind at the moment. As Hughes states,

"[i]n the face-to-face, spontaneous interactions of human beings we can witness the means by which personalities are projected on to the world and relations developed. The contributions—the initiating remarks, responses, jokes and laughter—. . . show little evidence of pre-planned speech, and, while the talk does conform to some of the typical regularities of exchanges (question and answer, and so on), the precise nature of the sample and the way it unfolds are governed and shaped by the people who are involved." (17)

III. Spod Language Features

A. Aspects of Written Language in Spodding

Spod language, because it is produced in a written medium, has some characteristics of informal written discourse. To communicate with another spod, a user will type a line or group of lines of text that will then appear on the other spod’s screen. These lines are defined for the purpose of this study as "utterances." The most obvious way spods can create written characteristics in their language is through usage of standard spelling, capitalization, and punctuation in order to make their online utterances recognizable as complete sentences. In the log from Amnesia House (AH), lines 403 to 404 contain this utterance:

> Lir tells you 'Sometimes we were inseperable, and kt seemed to think that we were forever. She

is very cool, but being together, that close, was wrecking my head. We're still friends.'

This utterance contains three complete sentences, mostly standard capitalization (the use of "kt" for "Katie" will be addressed later), and lexical choices that would be fairly sophisticated for spoken discourse, though not unfeasible. Spelling errors such as "inseperable" for "inseparable" are common in informal written texts. These sentences easily could have been found in a letter to a friend.

As stated above, Biber said that personal letters "do not show careful word choice or a high informational density" and show "many of the same interactive and affective characteristics of conversation" (132). These characteristics apply to the language of spodding as well. Surfers 96-97 contains:

Cracker asks 'I have to fire someone at work tonight. Anyone got

any suggestions about how I should do it?'

This is an example of how spodding shows "interactive and affective characteristics of conversation" even in its written state. Cracker’s utterance contains two complete sentences with standard spelling, punctuation, and capitalization, but the grammar of his utterance is closer to that of conversation. "Anyone got any suggestions . . . ?" is a fairly common grammatical construct in informal conversation, but if this were a formal written request for advice, it would probably read "Does anyone have any suggestions about how I should do it?" Even so, Cracker’s utterance could, like Lir’s, be found in a letter to a friend or group of friends.

Of course, sometimes spods create utterances that are entirely in written mode simply because the utterance works best with written features. One example of this is found in AH 657-658:

- Lir says 'Winter is cool, but around Feb/March I start to crave some sun. I hate the heat, but

without the summer I would have done something bad to myself a long time ago.'

Lir’s statement is entirely in written mode, and it expresses the meaning of the utterance perfectly well, especially as using written mode gives Lir the option to abbreviate "February" to "Feb" and to use the "/" symbol as a quick replacement for either "and" or "or." Lir was able to combine two related sentences into one utterance. If a spoken mode had been used for these two sentences, the point would still have been made; however, the sentences would probably have been split into two separate utterances, which would have been less efficient for transmitting the overall significance of Lir’s statement.

Occasionally, spods will use exaggerated features of written discourse in order to produce a sarcastic tone. Akin to a teenager’s derisive response such as "Of course, mother dear, I would be thrilled to obey you" or an exaggeratedly polite letter of complaint, these types of remarks are obviously meant to express precisely the opposite of the words that are actually said or written. For example, after several lines of minimal dialogue in Surfers, this utterance appears in line 467:

RavenBlack listens, enthralled, to the scintillating conversation.

Despite the words that signify speech, such as "listens" and "conversation," this remark is exaggeratedly "written." In fact, the lexical choices and the punctuation are so written in style that no speaker would be likely to say this at any point in an informal conversation, even in a sarcastic manner. Since most spods think of spodding as engaging in a continuing "conversation," RavenBlack’s utterance was probably created, whether consciously or not, to highlight the fact that the conversation had stopped. Only RavenBlack was left typing; therefore, RavenBlack was no longer involved in a conversation, but rather a written monologue. RavenBlack’s lexical and stylistic choices convey this change in role effectively. According to Levinson’s Goffman-based framework, RavenBlack’s role has changed from that of a comfortable participant/speaker with definite recipientship to that of an uncomfortable speaker who may or may not have addressees (172-173)!

At times spods use features of written language in order to express certain ideas more efficiently, and at times they omit features of written language for the same reason. One utterance that contains examples of both of these phenomena is found in AH 593-594:

You emote : NiBLeT is finding it hard to walk and/or type with fingers, toes, and legs crossed all

the time

The above utterance, which is a figurative expression of the spod’s desire for another spod to win a contest, is a standard informal written sentence except for the lack of ending punctuation. NiBLeT used commas and even included an "and/or" construction, a convention of informal written language developed for efficiency, but left off the full stop at the end of the sentence. In fact, there is a scarcity of ending punctuation for declarative sentences throughout the spodding logs.

One explanation for this deficit is that a full stop as ending punctuation is actually unnecessary, as the end of a line will signify the end of an utterance. Lines that are questions or exclamations will always include a question mark or an exclamation point because they are different types of utterances, but a full stop is generally unnecessary—except, of course, in the case of several sentences strung together in one utterance. However, use or disuse of the full stop seems to be a purely personal stylistic choice, and, as can be seen in the logs, one spod might employ one convention in one utterance and another in the next.

In a strange combination of written and spoken modes, some spods occasionally use the conventions of written language to amplify the "spokenness" of an utterance, even though the utterance would already be considered to be in a spoken mode because of other aspects of the sentence or sentences. Ironically, adding conventions of written language in order to point out the spod’s intended spoken mode only serves to enhance the utterance’s written medium. For example, Surfers 506 contains this utterance:

RavenBlack doesn't remember the theme tune. "Got the A-Team though. And Lost In Space."

The sentences that RavenBlack tries to enhance as spoken ("Got the A-Team though. And Lost In Space.") already contain enough features of spoken language for them to be considered "spoken" utterances. Specifically, they have ellipsis of the subject in the first sentence, the subject and verb in the second sentence, the substandard "got" for "I have" or "I have got," and the beginning of a sentence with "and" (which, although not unheard of in written texts, is much more common in spoken discourse). Despite all of these characteristics that could already define RavenBlack’s utterance as "spoken," RavenBlack expressed it in quotations—a specifically written convention—in order to make it more "correct" as a "spoken" utterance. However, in using this written convention, RavenBlack succeeded only in altering the utterance from spoken to written mode, which was precisely the opposite of the apparently intended purpose.

Occasionally, though, a spod will successfully utilize written conventions in an otherwise spoken mode in order to make a point quickly and efficiently. To say something quickly while speaking is easy; to type something quickly is not quite as simple. Consider the following example, found in Surfers 422, where the speaker needed to leave quickly because someone was waiting for her outside her flat:

You tell sebrina 'see you, "date" is here'

Sebrina is the sister of the speaker’s boyfriend, so for the speaker simply to tell Sebrina "my date is here" could have caused some confusion. However, to take the time to tell Sebrina something like "I must leave now because the person who is taking me to a film tonight who happens to be male . . . but is just a friend . . . is waiting downstairs" would not have been efficient.

In this case, the quotation marks around the word "date" signified the written convention of using inverted commas to call into question the validity of the word, thereby avoiding any possibility that Sebrina would mistakenly believe that the speaker had an actual date with any person other than Sebrina’s brother. Even though the utterance itself is largely in spoken mode, the addition of the written convention enhances the meaning of the utterance, and it makes it more efficient than any completely "spoken" utterance with the same meaning.

Spods pay attention to the words they use, and many spods try to correct their typographical errors. Such correction is usually not necessary since their meanings can usually be gathered from context, but the practice is widespread nonetheless:

} Santa's.Lovechild furry tells the friends of mog 'I think he worked his way down from aden and jordan to etheopia, but it's been a LONG time since I read the book. (s/etheopia/ethiopia/;)'

This example from Surfers 1401-1402 shows an utterance in mostly written mode in which the spod recognized a typographical error. Instead of starting the sentence over again, the spod chose to call attention to and correct the error at the end of the sentence with "(s/etheopia/ethiopia/;)," which is more or less short for "spell etheopia as ethiopia, silly me" (symbols such as :), :(, and ;), called emoticons, will be addressed later). This type of correction shows that spods value the written aspects of their discourse enough to make it "legible," despite the fact that it is already "understandable." Calling attention to the utterance itself, the phenomenon of metadiscourse, is loosely and roughly defined as "a separate level of information within the text" (Stainton 7), or, in quoting Crismore, "an author’s discoursing about discourse" (5). Stainton remarks that "[t]hose texts which require, and yet fail to employ the appropriate type and proportion of metadiscoursal features will be perceived by the reader as being stilted and difficult to read" (9-10). Spods correct typographical errors not because such correction is really necessary, but because they, as "writers," do not wish to alienate their "readers." However, like the use of ending punctuation, typographical error correction varies widely among spods. Obviously, those who tend to use a more "written" approach to spodding will correct errors more often than will those who employ a more "spoken" style.

Many groups of spod utterances could be considered both "written" and "spoken," because they contain complete sentences but are uttered in response to other spods and therefore require outside context in order to be fully understood. For example, AH 290-295 has this exchange:

- Lir asks 'Ouch, what happened?'

You emote : NiBLeT grins

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg says 'She typed rm <wrong filename>'

You emote : NiBLeT rm'd a file that had a longer filename but the same set of characters at the

beginning.

- Lir says 'Silly girl...'

Lir’s question is a complete sentence with standard punctuation and capitalization. In this sense it is a complete written utterance. The following utterances, which are responses to his question, are also (mostly) complete sentences. However, if the responses to previous utterances are considered separately, they each require contextual information in order to be considered complete. As Sinclair states regarding spoken discourse,

"[a] large part of the meaning of a sentence must always be determined by the context in which it is uttered, even when the most elaborated grammatical structures and most specific lexical items are employed. Much of everyday language use is not designed to be verbally explicit, direct and literal, but can achieve its ends in subtle ways by reliance on features of context and a listener’s procedures of interpretation using shared social conventions." (12)

According to this quote from Sinclair, even grammatically complex spod utterances will depend on their context to be understood. The necessity to consider outside context is mainly specific to spoken interactions, since any necessary contextual information is inbuilt for most written texts.

However, if one disregards the conversational meaning of the above set and considers only the linguistic aspects of the discourse, each utterance is a complete sentence in written form. MoOg’s utterance lacks an ending punctuation mark, but it does include additional punctuation ("<wrong filename>") in order to make his meaning explicit to his reader.

 

B. Aspects of Spoken Language in Spodding

While features of written language can be found easily in talker conversation logs, features of spoken language are much more prevalent. However, there is one very important feature of spoken discourse that is handled differently in talkers: "Conversation analysts generally recognize as true . . . [that] turn taking depends on subtle features of the utterance enabling a speaker to project the end of a prior turn" (Ford 171). While turn-taking is indeed an important part of talker conversation, spods do not need to "project the end of a prior turn" at any point. The end of a turn is usually the end of a line, unless the spod makes it clear (for example, in the case of long stories) that his or her turn will be extended. For example Surfers 135-151 contains this sequence of utterances:

Cracker says 'here is the situation, he punctured the freon carrying pipe to the ice machine. Why

I dont know...'

shelly says 'HAS ANYBODY SEEN BUFY'

JarJarBinks Alt says 'not today shelly'

net.platonic PhlebAs hasn't seen Buffy in ages

soulless callista asks 'he punctured it on purpose?'

JarJarBinks Alt says 'who did.'

shelly gets washed away in the surf.

* musicman mog runs away!!!

[mog has disconnected] [Friend]

Flint catches a wave into the shore.

Cracker says 'Think so. He was standing by the pipe with a opiece of the insulator inhis hand and the tech who came out said that it was a knife hole as he found a broken knife beside the machine and the knife tip fitted exactly into the hole...'

Cracker says 'draw your own conclusions.'

Flint steps onto Baile's Strand

soulless callista says 'well..that's pretty much grounds for firing.'

Cracker begins his story-telling sequence with "here is the situation" and ends the lines within the story with " . . . " to signify that the story is not finished. When he closes with "draw your own conclusions." he uses a full stop to indicate the end of his story. It is interesting to note that other conversations are able to continue during Cracker’s story. Since there is no danger of one’s voice not being heard, and since the symbols at the beginnings of lines allow spods to understand the context of each utterance, an advantage of the written medium of spodding is that one spod can be involved in several conversations at once without confusion.

Often, spods will take advantage of the presence of both written and spoken aspects of spodding. One way a spod might do this would be to combine features of a written medium with features of a spoken medium, but this combination is usually not deliberate. For instance, the utterance in AH 403-404, even though previously considered to be closest to written language, contains at least one representation of spoken discourse:

> Lir tells you 'Sometimes we were inseperable, and kt seemed to think that we were forever. She

is very cool, but being together, that close, was wrecking my head. We're still friends.'

Despite the overall written form of this sentence, Lir uses "kt" in place of the name "Katie." This replacement is a written representation of the sounds that one would make when saying the name. It is interesting that Lir uses a very written style throughout the conversation logs, yet does not write this name out in full or at least capitalize the shortened form. The choice to create a verbal illustration of this name indicates that Lir was, at least in part, thinking of this utterance in its spoken form—even though every other part of the utterance was created with a written framework.

One entirely "spoken" aspect of spodding is not actually spoken at all, but rather emoted. To emote is to create a written representation of what the spod is "physically" doing in the talker environment. Emotes are a kind of representation of body language, which would otherwise be missing from online communication. Consider this utterance, from AH 56:

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg tum te tums

It is significant that MoOg did not say "tum te tum." When a person "tum te tums" in a face-to-face environment, that person is expressing boredom, not making a statement in the form of a sentence. For this reason, MoOg would be more likely to "tum te tum" as an action than to make "tum te tum" his statement to the room. (For the same reason, spods most often emote "person smiles" instead of saying "person says ‘I’m smiling.’") Unfortunately, one cannot know from a talker log the actual length of time between utterances, but one can generally gather from context that more time elapses between some utterances than others. MoOg’s "tum te tum" probably indicates that the conversation was moving slowly at that point.

As mentioned previously, spods also use emoticons such as :), :(, and ;), which show a smiling, frowning or winking face if turned sideways. There are hundreds of emoticons used in all kinds of electronic communication; the very basic :), :(, and ;) are not by any means the only emoticons used in spodding, but they are probably the most prevalent. Usage of emoticons can change the meaning of an utterance just as much as body language can change the meaning of verbal communication in spoken discourse. Zach’s utterance in AH 461 demonstrates the emoticon’s ability to change the meaning of a sentence:

> Zach doesn’t like you at all ;)

In this case, the symbol ";)" more or less signifies "just kidding." In face-to-face verbal interaction, the same utterance might have been accompanied by a wink or a smile, but the written medium of talkers limits the spod’s ability to express the fullest meaning of this type of utterance. Emoticons are popular in online communication because they fill in part of the gap that is created when spoken communication is constructed in a written medium.

Another problem with the spoken nature of talkers expressed in a written medium is that there is no way to hear intonation. As Brazil states, "[i]t seems hardly necessary to insist that intonation is correlated with discourse functions in various ways. What needs to be demonstrated, however, is that it is, in a considerable number of cases, the sole realization of a distinction that the discourse analyst cannot afford to overlook" (147). In other words, intonation is clearly an important part of discourse, and many times a spoken expression can mean something entirely different simply through a change in intonation. Spods recognize that a lack of intonation can lead to comprehension problems, and they have developed ways to work around it:

[ah] fenwick says 'however there *will* be a meet for me in december when i visit :o)'

This example, taken from Surfers 1037, has changed from a simple declarative statement ("there will be a meet [party] . . .") to a sort of command (there will be a meet . . . ." Because italics and boldface type are not always available for use in the talker situation, this change was achieved by simply setting the word "will" apart with asterisks. These asterisks, like italics, signify that the word would be stressed if the utterance were spoken. This type of utterance is common in spoken interaction—it signifies that the listener must accept the terms of the speaker’s declaration.

Emphatic material is also expressed in other ways, such as capitalizing all the letters of a word or sentence, using extra ending punctuation, or employing any similar method to set apart an utterance or part of an utterance from the rest of the conversation. Surfers 1036 shows an example of capitalization:

[ah] Pagan exclaims 'she's playing that BLOODY game boy!'

whereas AH 780 shows an example of excess punctuation:

- Sexy Fenwick exclaims 'be myself?!?!'

Neither of these utterances is in the form of standard written discourse, but both spods are very effective in visually describing what they want their readers to "hear" in their online voices. Through these new written conventions, spods have developed a written form of "intonation" that replaces the ability to hear these otherwise "spoken" utterances.

Spods may also take advantage of different phonetic spellings in order to create different types of "verbal" effects in their utterances. Consider AH 611,

- Sexy Fenwick says 'stop talking bout icecream hehe'

compared with Surfers 1302,

Santa's.Lovechild furry says 'muaha.'

Both of these utterances express laughter, but the type of laughter is different in each utterance. Fenwick’s "hehe" is an expression of genuine laughter, brought about by a general misunderstanding of a concept that is being explained, whereas furry’s "muaha" is supposed to be a representation of menacing laughter in reference to the usage of regedit. (Regedit is short for "registry editor," a program that can cripple the operation of one’s computer if used incorrectly.) The difference between their respective "meanings" of these two types of online "laughter" is obvious, thanks to the written distinction between their phonetic elements.

 

C. A Note Regarding Gender Issues

Is Fenwick male? Could MoOg be female? Obviously, spods cannot know the gender of other spods unless they are specifically told. Because of this ambiguity, gender issues have been addressed rather effectively in talkers—more effectively, in fact, than in standard written or spoken language. Even though grammarians have long recognized that there is a gap in the English language due to the lack of third-person singular gender-neutral pronouns, their response is not to work toward recognizing the set of plural pronouns as a non-gendered option, or to develop or work with already developed new sets of gender neutral pronouns (such as ey, em, eir, eirs, and eirself), but rather to "recast the sentence so the subject and verb are plural," "recast the sentence in the passive voice," "avoid the pronoun altogether," or "substitute a compound phrase [his or her]" (Harbrace 72-73), none of which will always be a satisfactory adjustment. Perhaps these options are less insidious than the lingering idea that male pronouns are sufficient representatives for all of humanity, but there should be a third-person singular gender-neutral option available for those who would choose to employ it. However, it comes as no surprise to some linguists that grammarians would resist such a radical change to the language, since the system of the English language is rooted in patriarchy:

"The [language and gender] controversy hinges on the degree to which one can say that the system of language projects sexist bias. One side of the debate views sexism in language as inherent to the system itself, and considers that by using a system which is intrinsically biased speakers and writers actively construct the inequality that exists between men and women in society. The other side proposes that sexism is encoded into language, either consciously or unconsciously, by users of language. In this way, linguistic practices will tend to re-inforce and naturalize sexist divisions in society. An underlying premise which is shared by both sides of the debate is the valid assumption that Western society is organized in terms of a patriarchal order." (Simpson 161)

According to Simpson, gender bias is inherent in both written and spoken language because of its basis in a patriarchal society. However, for spods and other "netizens" who have transcended the patriarchy and connected to cyber-reality, gender bias in language cannot be used for or against either gender, since knowledge of gender is never certain. When one connects to a talker, one usually has the choice of three genders: male, female, or neuter/plural. The third gender employs the set of plural third-person pronouns (they, them, their, theirs, themselves) for the singular character, thus sacrificing a small degree of grammatical accuracy for the comfort of those spods who feel that their gender is irrelevant to their ability to communicate with others. RavenBlack makes this point rather succinctly in Surfers 541-545:

I.Am.Satan MehLindi thought as much, Mr RavenBlack

RavenBlack asks 'Mr?'

[Sanman has connected] [Friend]

I.Am.Satan MehLindi says 'well, you look exceedingly male on your webpage'

RavenBlack says 'Oh, okay. But here I'm an it.'

IV. What Type of Language is Spod Language?

A. Compared with Written Language

Despite the various features of written language one can find in the conversation of talkers, spod language cannot be considered "written." Goffman listed some differences between written and spoken prose that illustrate this point:

"Some of the differences between written prose and spoken prose are these:
    1. . . . [R]eaders can reread a passage, whereas hearers can’t rehear an utterance—except from a tape. Also, spelling [and punctuation] helps to disambiguate what in speech would be homonymous [or otherwise ambiguous]. . . .
    2. Print conventions for laying out a text provide for coherence in ways unavailable to oral delivery. . . .
    3. Ordinarily, liberties that can be taken with an audience can’t be taken with a readership. . . . For [the speaker] can rely on people he can see getting the spirit of his remarks, not merely the literal words that carry them." (189-190)

However, the "written text" of spodding rarely conforms to these characteristics of written language. As shown previously, correct spelling and punctuation is largely optional for many spods, and some actually take advantage of homonymic and homophonous features of the language in order to make their online conversation more efficient. Because of the sentence-by-sentence nature of spodding, "print conventions for laying out a text" such as paragraphs, chapters, and so forth are rarely needed, since spods develop points together in conversation rather than creating them unaccompanied.

Perhaps most interesting is that spods—although using a written medium—can easily "take liberties" with other online users because of the widespread use and understanding of emoticons and other methods for signifying one’s tone of voice and underlying meaning. In this way, spods, like speakers, can rely on their audience’s ability to "get the spirit of their remarks." Because of these largely "spoken" aspects of spodding, to define it simply as "written" language because of its written medium would be to ignore a large portion of characteristics that differentiate the language of spodding from the language of standard writing.

 

B. Compared with Spoken Language

Of course, because of the written medium of talkers, spodding cannot be considered "spoken" language either. In a similar fashion to Goffman, Sacks has set out characteristics of spoken communication:

"In any conversation:
    1. Speaker change recurs, or, at least, occurs.
    2. Overwhelmingly, one party talks at a time.
    3. Occurrences of more than one speaker at a time are common, but brief.
    4. Transitions from one turn to a next with no gap and no overlap between them are common. Together with transitions characterized by slight gap or overlap, they make up the vast majority of transitions.
    5. Turn order is not fixed, but varies.
    6. Turn size is not fixed, but varies.
    7. Length of conversation is not fixed, specified in advance.
    8. What parties say is not fixed, specified in advance.
    9. Relative distribution of turns is not fixed, specified in advance.
    10. Number of parties can change.
    11. Talk can be continuous or discontinuous.
    12. Turn-allocation techniques are obviously used. A current speaker may select a next speaker (as when a current speaker addresses a question to another party); parties may self-select, in starting to talk.
    13. Various ‘turn-constructional units’ are employed. Turns can be projectedly "one word long," or, for example, they can be sentential in length.
    14. Repair mechanisms for dealing with turn-taking errors and violations obviously are available for use. For example, if two parties find themselves talking at the same time, one of them will stop prematurely, thus repairing the trouble." (10-11)

Some of these characteristics are found in talkers: speakers change, turn order and size are not fixed, conversation length and topics are not fixed, and distribution of turns and number of parties are not fixed. Nevertheless, many of the other features that Sacks mentions do not apply to spod language.

As mentioned earlier, the written medium allows more than one conversation to be held simultaneously, and many times one spod will carry on two or more conversations on different channels. This means that more than one spod "speaking" at a time is not a problem. Also, turn-taking errors and violations do not exist, so the repair mechanisms that function to fix them do not exist either.

Also, turn-allocation techniques are rarely used. If one spod wishes to receive a response from a specific person, he or she will usually address that person in a direct tell. Occasionally one spod will address another personally in a main-room conversation, but when a public channel is used, any other spod is by default free to reply. In that situation, the first speaker has not selected the next speaker simply because he or she has addressed a spod by name. Similarly, one spod cannot self-select him- or herself as the next speaker after any utterance, since there is no way to know which other spods are typing responses simultaneously until they all appear on the screen. In most cases, the only way to self-select oneself as the next speaker is to type very quickly!

These lists of characteristics of spoken and written language pose a problem for any kind of strict definition of talker language. Since the language of spodding is in a written medium and therefore cannot possess many features of spoken language, it cannot be defined as "spoken" any more accurately than it can be defined as "written" because of its written medium.

V. Conclusion

As Chafe points out, writing and speaking have different properties because they are produced under different circumstances: "Speaking, of course, uses the medium of sound, writing that of sight. And speaking is typically produced in a face to face, interactive situation, writing typically in social isolation" (13). However, the circumstances that produce the written-spoken hybrid of spodding are just as distinctive. Spods use the medium of sight, like writers; however, their situation, though not face-to-face, is interactive rather than isolated, like speakers. The language of spods, therefore, is born of a combination of numerous aspects of two very different types of communication.

Unfortunately, because of the limited proportions of this study, in-depth investigation of significant specific linguistic issues, such as deixis and modality, were shelved in favor of the aspiration to provide a broad overview of the language of spodding. Even though electronic communication is a relatively new medium of communication and will doubtless merit the eventual development of its own linguistic criticism, today’s existing comprehension of the linguistic aspects of standard written and spoken media can be applied somewhat effectively to its language now. This overview of the language of spodding seems to indicate that spod language can only currently be defined as a spoken mode in a written medium.

Most importantly, though, all language—whether written, spoken, signed, or any combination thereof—is concerned with communication. Clear communication is aided by devices such as grammatical rules, rhetorical devices, body language, and even the efficiencies of computer neologisms. Human communication was the first reason for language, and language has developed alongside technology ever since. Human beings must interact with each other, so when two or more people have a conversation, they must work together to make their mutual communication effective and agreeable to each other—whether they are speaking, writing, or spodding. In any case, good communication is the ultimate goal:

"Unlike most written discourse and a good deal of spoken discourse like lectures, broadcasts, and speeches, a conversation is constructed and executed as it happens, by two people, feeling their way forward together. There is no going back, crossing out, rewriting and restructuring. This is particularly evident in the phenomenon known as repair, in which participants correct either their own words or those of another participant, edging toward a situation in which maximum communication is achieved." (Cook 55)

VI. Bibliography

"Agreement: Options to Avoid Stereotyping." Harbrace College Handbook. 12th ed.

1994.

Biber, Douglas. Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge: Cambridge UP,

1988.

Brazil, Davil. "The place of intonation in a discourse model." Studies in Discourse

Analysis. Malcolm Coulthard and Martin Montgomery, eds. London:

Routledge, 1981. 146-157.

Carter, Ronald, et al., eds. Working with Texts: A core book for language analysis.

London: Routledge, 1997.

Chafe, Wallace. "Writing in the Perspective of Speaking." Studying Writing:

Linguistic Approaches. Charles R. Cooper and Sidney Greenbaum, eds.

Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1986. 12-39.

Cook, Guy. Discourse. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1989.

Everett, Paul. Repton’s Talker Page. Title: Talkers. Internet WWW page at:

<http://www.repton.org/~repton/talkers.html> (Accessed 13 July, 1999).

Ford, Cecilia E. and Sandra A. Thompson. "Interactional units in conversation:

syntactic, intonational, and pragmatic resources for the management of turns."

Elinor Ochs, Emanuel A. Schegloff, and Sandra A. Thompson, eds.

Interaction and Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996. 134-184.

Goffman, Erving. Forms of Talk. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania UP, 1981.

Goodman, Sharon, and David Graddol, eds. Redesigning English: new texts, new

identities. London: Routledge, 1996.

Halliday, M. A. K. Explorations in the Functions of Language. London: Edward

Arnold Ltd., 1973.

Hughes, Rebecca. English in Speech and Writing: Investigating language and

literature. London: Routledge, 1996.

Levinson, Stephen C. "Putting Linguistics on a Proper Footing: Explorations in

Goffman’s Concepts of Participation." Erving Goffman: Exploring the

interaction order. Eds. P. Drew and A. Wootton. Oxford: Polity Press, 1988.

161-227.

McCarthy, Michael. "Conversation and Literature: Tense and Aspect." Linguistic

Approaches to Literature. J. Payne, ed. Birmingham: ELR, 1996.

Sacks, Harvey, Emanuel A. Schegloff, and Gail Jefferson. "A Simplest Systematics

for the Organization of Turn Taking for Conversation." Studies in the

Organization of Conversational Interaction. Jim Schenkein, ed. New York:

Academic Press, 1978. 7-55.

Simpson, Paul. Language, Ideology and Point of View. London: Routledge, 1993.

Sinclair, J. McH., and R. M. Coulthard. Towards an Analysis of Discourse: The

English used by teachers and pupils. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1975.

Stainton, Caroline. "Metadiscourse: The Rhetorical Plane of Text." Nottingham:

University of Nottingham, Department of English Studies.

VII. Appendices

Appendix A.: Notes About the Conversation Logs

  1. An "emote" creates the output of an action ("person waves at you"), whereas a "say" creates the output of speech ("person says ‘hello’").
  2. Lines prefixed by a "-" in the AH log and by nothing at all in the Surfers log represent a general say to anyone in the same room.
  3. Lines prefixed by ">" represent a direct tell to the person who sees those lines. Nobody sees a direct tell except the person who gives the tell and the person who receives the tell.
  4. Lines prefixes by [SU] represent a say or emote to those spods who can see the "superuser channel," the channel which only the staff of a talker can see. Similarly, any lines prefixed by [anything] represent a say or emote to those spods who are connected to that particular channel.
  5. Lines prefixed by a "*" represent a tell only to those who are on the speaker’s list of friends.
  6. Lines prefixed by a "}" represent a reply to a person’s list of friends.
  7. Lines prefixed by a "=" represent a social action; that is, an action that has been created by a shortcut. For instance, AH line 46 (= Freya wavels to boris) was not created by Freya typing "emote wavels to boris," but rather simply "wave boris." Socials are usually written for those actions that are done often, such as waving, kissing, hugging, etc. The output for socials is usually random; the person who types "hug boris" might see "You huggle boris tight," "You give boris a huggle," or something similar.
  8. Lines prefixed by a "+" represent an echo; that is, a say or emote to the room that does not generally reveal the identity of the person who does or says it. If a user chooses to see who uses echoes, the user’s name will appear after the "+" as [person].
  9. In the AH logs, "(+ person does whatever +)" means that person has connected., and "(- person does whatever -)" means that person has disconnected. In the Surfers logs, "person catches a wave into the shore" and "person washes away in the surf" mean that person has connected and that person has disconnected, respectively.

 

Appendix B.: Log from Amnesia House

- Sexy_ Grimstone says 'oiwojwknanfa; l;ijs;lkam ;lkaajid oi;aklfj;d]a]'

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg asks '??'

You ask 'really?'

- Sexy_ Grimstone says 'sorry: cat'

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg suggest typing lessons for that 5

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg grins

(- Grimstone transcends this reality to an alternative existence. -)

[ S U ] NiBLeT says 'kt has tried to call me like 5000000 times--should I call her back'

[ S U ] MoOg doubts it

[ S U ] MoOg reckons she's calling to pretend I'm all hers so back off 10

[ S U ] NiBLeT asks 'would you be offended if I called her back?'

[ S U ] NiBLeT doesn't want to be mean

[ S U ] MoOg says 'nope. fine with me'

[ S U ] MoOg says 'report any conflicts with what I said I said of course ;)'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg asks of you 'do you still have your website up?' 15

You ask of MoOg 'yeah, why?'

You tell MoOg 'she says that you're not breaking up, you're just toning it down a bit'

You tell MoOg 'fair enough'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg nods. that'll do

You tell MoOg 'she says she wants the chance to try to make you happy' 20

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg noddles. she said that lots to me

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg still thinks that porch pic looks the most like you atm

You emote 'NiBLeT smiles' to MoOg

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg obviously isn't looking at pics of you in a sentimental way ;)

You emote 'NiBLeT chuckles' to MoOg 25

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'honest'

You emote 'NiBLeT smiles' to MoOg

You exclaim to MoOg 'she's being rational!'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg asks of you 'she is?! jesus christ. in what way?'

* Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells his friends 'hey mrf' 30

You emote 'NiBLeT smiles, quit it, I'm on the phone' to MoOg

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'sorry'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg sits and be's quite at you

} newbie_friendly mrF waves an antennae in greeting [to the friends of MoOg]

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'quiet even' 35

- Da_Bean Freya says 'silly cow'

- Da_Bean Freya boings

* dinky alnya snogs

- dinky alnya ponders

[+S U+] Freya returns to duty. 40

[ S U ] Freya poings

[ S U ] MoOg hugs

[ S U ] Freya snoggles and lix

> [boris has connected] [friend] [resident] [spod] [idler] opal.spod.org

(+ boris cba working any more... +) 45

= Freya wavels to boris

= boris snogs Freya wetly

> Da_Bean Freya snogs and lix while you aint looking :oP

- purple boris made it work :)

- Da_Bean Freya asks 'made what work?' 50

- purple boris made his modem work :)

- purple boris all happy now

- Da_Bean Freya says 'ah righty, kewlies'

- purple boris has been without dial up at home for WAY to long...

= Freya gives boris a gentle hug 55

* Iiiiiiit's MoOg tum te tums

} Da_Bean Freya rat a tat tats [to the friends of MoOg]

} newbie_friendly mrF tells the friends of MoOg 'sings 'little donkey..little donkey..on the

duuustyyy rooad''

* Iiiiiiit's MoOg cluck a luck lucks? 60

* dinky alnya reads the lyrics to the new nin single

* dinky alnya tells its friends 'very anti-manson'

* Iiiiiiit's MoOg grins

} Iiiiiiit's MoOg grins to you too [to the friends of alnya]

* dinky alnya tells its friends 'Now I belong, I'm one of the beautiful ones' 65

* dinky alnya tells its friends 'for example :P'

} Da_Bean Freya grins [to the friends of alnya]

- Da_Bean Freya huggles and snogs and heads off to bed

- Da_Bean Freya says 'ni ni peeps'

- Da_Bean Freya says 'i should really go so i can be up in the morning all nice and early' 70

- Da_Bean Freya snores

- purple boris waves.. sleep well

- Da_Bean Freya does unspeakable acts of passion with everyone

- Da_Bean Freya says 'thanx boris, you too bean'

- Da_Bean Freya wavels ni ni 75

[Leaving da~flat!] Freya

(- Freya goes off to give praise to the gods and godesses -)

> [Freya has disconnected] [friend] [lower admin] [spod] [idler] dialup-103.publab.ed.ac.uk

> [Fenwick has connected] [friend] [super user] [spod] [idler] pm3-7-22.phl.magpage.com

(+ Fenwick doesnt want the world, she just wants your half. +) 80

-=> You were idle for: 26 minutes and 49 seconds

You ask of MoOg 'how do I retrieve that log?'

You tell MoOg 'from surfers'

} Sexy Fenwick blinks [to the friends of alnya]

You tell MoOg 'and how do I tirn it off in the first place' 85

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg asks of you 'did you stop logging it?'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'log off I should think'

You emote 'NiBLeT isn't sure :/ meep' to MoOg

You emote 'NiBLeT did that' to MoOg

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg asks of you 'is there still a little (log) icon?' 90

You tell MoOg 'no'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'or bit of text i mean'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'then it's done'

* Sexy Fenwick exclaims to her friends 'I DEMAND THAT EVERYONE UNIDLE AT ONCE!'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'ftp to the same address and find it' 95

} dinky alnya nods [to the friends of Fenwick]

You tell MoOg 'I can't find it, that's the problem'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg erks

> [Ebola has connected] [friend] [senior SU] [spod] [idler] lunacy.demon.co.uk

(+ Ebola is in the house! +) 100

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg goes look for you?

- Ebola says 'hi'

You tell MoOg 'please do'

You tell MoOg 'it was called surf I think'

- Sexy Fenwick exclaims 'lau!' 105

- purple boris waves

- Ebola says 'lo'

= Fenwick snogs Ebola long and hard

- Sexy Fenwick exclaims 'boris!'

= Fenwick hugs boris tightly 110

= boris snogs Fenwick senseless

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'it's in your public_html directory. cos thats where you ran tf from'

= Ebola licks and slurps all up and down Fenwick's quivering body

* Sexy Fenwick tells her friends 'tickles mrF until he stops idleing'

} Ebola tells the friends of Fenwick 'ok' 115

- Sexy Fenwick squirms

} Ebola asks of the friends of Fenwick 'where is he ticklish?'

* Sexy Fenwick emotes that too

} newbie_friendly mrF tells the friends of Fenwick 'the groin :P'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg asks of you 'how was the phone?' 120

* Sexy Fenwick tells her friends 'eeep'

* Sexy Fenwick tells her friends 'you tickle him then Lau'

} newbie_friendly mrF is revising for exams, gerrof. [to the friends of Fenwick]

} Ebola tells the friends of Fenwick 'hmmmm...it is ok, I won't bother'

} Ebola tells the friends of Fenwick 'he has woken up anyway' 125

* Sexy Fenwick tells her friends 'hehe'

} newbie_friendly mrF sorries for crudeness.. [to the friends of Fenwick]

} newbie_friendly mrF tells the friends of Fenwick 'oo...a little lower down.. oooOO. yeah, that's

it :)'

You tell MoOg 'ARGH I just deleted the wrong file' 130

You ask of MoOg 'can I undelete it?'

} Ebola grins [to the friends of Fenwick]

* Sexy Fenwick tells her friends 'umm...'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg doubts it

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'sorry :/' 135

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg feels bad for being the admin :P

* Ebola is rather drunk now

} Sexy Fenwick laughs [to the friends of Ebola]

* Ebola tells her friends 'just been in central london'

} Sexy Fenwick asks of the friends of Ebola 'how much you drink?' 140

} Sexy Fenwick tells the friends of Ebola 'i was talking about getting drunk today'

You tell MoOg 'argh argh argh'

* dinky alnya tells its friends 'nite'

[Leaving da~flat!] alnya

(- alnya dives into a pile of mis-sorted socks -) 145

> [alnya has disconnected] [friend] [resident] [spod] [idler] dialup-103.publab.ed.ac.uk

You tell MoOg 'oh well, it was just surfers main room'

You tell MoOg 'will do it again tomorrow'

* Ebola tells her friends 'not too bad, only a couple of pints'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'no great intellectual loss' 150

* Ebola tells her friends 'actually, still quite sober'

(- boris buggers off -)

> [boris has disconnected] [friend] [resident] [spod] [idler] opal.spod.org

} Sexy Fenwick tells the friends of Ebola 'drink more then'

* Ebola tells her friends 'ok' 155

* Ebola tells her friends 'got to work tomorrow though'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'no offense to many surfers peeps'

} Sexy Fenwick tells the friends of Ebola 'hmm well then dont it might be bad'

You emote 'NiBLeT sighs' to MoOg

You emote 'NiBLeT learned something today' to MoOg 160

You emote 'NiBLeT grins' to MoOg

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg asks of you 'which is?'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg is a pox on your happiness? ;P

You tell MoOg 'don't rm files with the same starting set of characters as a shorter named file,

especially if spaces are involved' 165

You tell MoOg 'sigh'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg grins

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg can make it tell you that when you log on if you want ;)

You tell MoOg 'kt thinks you're going to work it out, and that you just need space, btw'

You tell MoOg 'which is probably close to trye' 170

You emote 'NiBLeT smirks, no thanks' to MoOg

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg knows she thinks this. it's as close as I could get her to accept

You emote 'NiBLeT nods' to MoOg

You tell MoOg 'you also should know that if you were any more drastic, she probably would have

drowned herself' 175

You tell MoOg 'especially as all her friends have gone away atm'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg nods. hence caved in

You emote 'NiBLeT noddles' to MoOg

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg isn't a total bastard

You emote 'NiBLeT knows' to MoOg 180

You tell MoOg 'you're a wonderful, wonderful person'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg grins and is glad you think so

You tell MoOg 'jon doesn't mind if you come on the 21st btw'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'kewl'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'well dont everyone talk at once' 185

You emote 'NiBLeT ooers, gets a message on phone from corvo asking if I want to go out for dinner

.?!' to MoOg

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg cooers

You tell MoOg 'heh heh, I'm sure he's just being friends-ly'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg nods 190

You emote 'NiBLeT smiles' to MoOg

(- Ebola transcends this reality to an alternative existence. -)

> [Ebola has disconnected] [friend] [senior SU] [spod] [idler] lunacy.demon.co.uk

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg awws. Stipey is sitting staring at me

You emote 'NiBLeT nods' to MoOg 195

You emote 'NiBLeT awwws!' to MoOg

You tell MoOg 'I really liked stipey'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg grins

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'she's really cute'

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg does a funky little dance 200

You emote 'NiBLeT smiles' to MoOg

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg grins

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hmm'

- Sexy Fenwick looks at Moog

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg oopses 205

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg giggles

> [Zach has connected] [spouse] [friend] [resident] [spod] [idler] box.whiting.co.uk

(+ Zach sets an irl.idlemsg +)

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg is idle, honest

- Sexy Fenwick blinks 210

You emote : NiBLeT hi hi hi his

- Sexy Fenwick laughs

- Sexy Fenwick says 'liar'

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg says 'hey'

You emote : NiBLeT licks Zach's toes until they turn into prunes 215

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hi zaxh'

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg is, honest

- Sexy Fenwick says 'zach too'

- Zach ellos

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg is away while my puter talks 220

You emote : NiBLeT smiles

= Fenwick tickles MoOg and makes MoOg squirm

> Zach lix

You tell Zach 'I LOVE YOU btw'

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg's puter pretending to be MoOg giggles 225

You emote : NiBLeT laughs

- Sexy Fenwick says 'i believe you'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'noone wants to talk to me'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'thats fine'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'i can take a hint' 230

You emote 'NiBLeT grins' to Zach

You emote : NiBLeT eeps!

You emote : NiBLeT finds that icq is not on?!

> Zach eats god biscuits and milk

You tell Zach 'ooooooer' 235

> [Lir has connected] [friend] [resident] 212.2.176.154

(+ Lir is in the house! +)

You tell Zach 'lard, it's nearly 1 am'

* Iiiiiiit's MoOg exclaims to his friends 'lir!!'

You say 'LIR' 240

- Sexy Fenwick exclaims 'lir!'

You emote : NiBLeT lix

* Iiiiiiit's MoOg asks of his friends 'still on for tomorrow?'

You emote : NiBLeT lurves lir

- Lir waves and stuff. 245

- Sexy Fenwick runs up to Lir and hugs him.

> Zach grins

} Lir tells the friends of MoOg 'Of course I am.'

- Sexy Fenwick asks 'Lir will talk to me! Wont you Lir?'

* Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells his friends 'cool' 250

> Zach has grazed the roof of his mouth, its really painful :(

* Iiiiiiit's MoOg ponderd popping home at lunch to say hi

- Lir says 'Of course I will dear.'

- Sexy Fenwick exclaims 'yay!'

- Sexy Fenwick points to Niblet and moog. 255

> Zach owws

- Sexy Fenwick says 'they wont talk to me :o('

You say 'we're horrible to her :)'

You emote 'NiBLeT giggles :)' to Zach

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg poked her with a stick 260

You emote 'NiBLeT grins' to MoOg

} Lir tells the friends of MoOg 'Bare in mind, I won't be there until at least 4pm'

- Lir asks 'Why not?'

* Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells his friends 'oh right. I'll see you after work then'

You tell the friends of MoOg 'you're always bare in my mind, lir ;)' 265

* Iiiiiiit's MoOg lols

- Sexy Fenwick says 'they dont like me'

} Lir smiles [to the friends of MoOg]

You say 'we love you fennel'

- Lir asks 'What? Why? Which? When? Who?' 270

You exclaim 'and how!'

You emote : NiBLeT giggles

> Zach is going over to Geoff’s on thursday

You tell Zach 'well, tell him I said hello then'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'they wont talk to me' 275

- Lir asks 'Ok, why is my college server so slow?'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'they are pretending to be idle'

} newbie_friendly mrF winks and gets back to memorising format of a tender document.. bah.. ;) [to

the friends of MoOg]

- Lir says 'Well, they're talking now...' 280

You emote 'NiBLeT grins' to Zach

- Sexy Fenwick says 'not to me'

You emote : NiBLeT grins

You say 'sorry'

You say 'we're all caught up in our own little worlds' 285

You say 'for example, I just lost about 5 hours of work'

- Lir twaps Niblet and moog.

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg pouts

You say 'because of my own utter stupidity :)'

- Lir asks 'Ouch, what happened?' 290

You emote : NiBLeT grins

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg says 'She typed rm <wrong filename>'

You emote : NiBLeT rm'd a file that had a longer filename but the same set of characters at the

beginning.

- Lir says 'Silly girl...' 295

You say 'so it deleted the shorter one, especially because the wrong one had a space in it'

You say 'which is an error in itself'

} newbie_friendly mrF realises he mischans and sighs.. [to the friends of MoOg]

You say 'but wasn't deliberate, which is why I was trying to get rid of it'

You emote : NiBLeT sighs :) 300

- Lir wants to kill a network somewhere...

> Zach tells you '10 things I hate about you is out on july 9th'

You exclaim to Zach 'YAY!'

You tell Zach 'come down here and we'll go see it'

> Zach grins 305

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg waves atta strolling puddy-tat

You emote : NiBLeT smiles

You say 'stipey has to be one of the sweetest cats I've ever seen'

You say 'jon's cat rowena is one of them as well, but she has a bit of a drool problem'

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg says 'not sure if shes sweeter than chloe' 310

- Zach says 'she's a disgusting drool machine'

- Zach says 'Henry drools too'

You say 'she's a sweet fat puddy'

You say 'henry is too standoffish for me to know that'

You emote : NiBLeT smiles, stipey is sweet because she's thin tho 315

You say 'weird'

You ask 'I like fat puddies and thin puddies equally, but for opposite reasons?'

- Lir says 'Also, on a tangent, may I briefly suggest that I go about a hundred miles north of here

and bang some serious heads together.'

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg says 'stipey reminds me of Wednesday Adams cos she has markings like a black 320

centre parting'

You emote : NiBLeT nods!

-=> mrF makes you his friend.

> newbie_friendly mrF tells you 'weeelllll... ;)'

- Zach asks 'you mean you like fat puddies cos they're fat and thin ones cos they're thin?' 325

You emote 'NiBLeT looks, smiles~!' to mrF

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg grins

You emote 'NiBLeT smilies, I thought you were on that list' to mrF

You emote : NiBLeT smiles

You emote : NiBLeT noddles :) 330

= newbie_friendly mrF smiles happily at you

You emote 'NiBLeT lix' to mrF

> newbie_friendly mrF tells you 'grins and hugs.. ni ni ;)'

> [mrF has disconnected] [friend] [resident] [spod] [idler] modem-55.zinc.dialup.pol.co.uk

- Zach boggles 335

- Zach says 'bloody women ;P'

You emote : NiBLeT is the same with men, phwiar

- Zach lol

Fenwick goes to a room belonging to Quinn

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg lols 340

You emote : NiBLeT thinks . o O ( -i +o )

- Zach thinks phwiar is a good word

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg says 'sounds a little like a pathetic warcry tho'

You emote : NiBLeT lol!

You exclaim 'it does indeed!!' 345

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg charges into battle shouting "PHWIAR!!"

- Zach runs screaming

You emote : NiBLeT giggles

- Iiiiiiit's MoOg would just collapse laughing

You ask 'you just couldn't say "phwiar" in anything but a mousey squeal, could you?' 350

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'nope. shame you can't denote pitch on here'

You emote 'NiBLeT smiles' to MoOg

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg direct tells for no apparent reason other than it's become habit

You emote 'NiBLeT smiles' to MoOg

You ask of Zach 'what you doin?' 355

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg lix and goes to bed I guess

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg wants to just sit and chat but...

You emote 'NiBLeT nods' to MoOg

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg would be dead in the morning

You tell MoOg 'go to sleep' 360

You tell MoOg 'pleasant dreams'

You emote 'NiBLeT lix' to MoOg

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells you 'night'

* Iiiiiiit's MoOg tells his friends 'night all'

You emote 'NiBLeT huggles ni ni' to MoOg 365

You emote 'NiBLeT lix nini' to MoOg and his friends

> Iiiiiiit's MoOg lix

[Leaving da~flat!] MoOg

(- MoOg isn't happy with his wash -)

> [MoOg has disconnected] [friend] [coder] [spod] [idler] dialup-103.publab.ed.ac.uk 370

* Lir tells his friends 'Damn, missed him.'

You emote : NiBLeT sent like 30 emails today and hasn't got one reply yet

You emote : NiBLeT pouts

You emote : NiBLeT puts on cute pjs

You emote : NiBLeT is so happy 375

You emote : NiBLeT gets work done whilst spodding, life is grand

- Lir imagines Niblet in cute pjs :) Oh, how did the party go?

You exclaim 'was great! lots of fun!'

- Lir asks 'What happened?'

You say 'good music' 380

You say 'good conversation'

You say 'good food'

You say 'good time :)'

You say 'you should have been there--it would have been 80 times better'

You say 'well, 79.72, but I rounded up' 385

You ask of Lir 'oh, btw, how's the gf?'

- Lir says 'couldn't go over at w/e, which is why I'm heading over tomorrow.'

You emote : NiBLeT grins

> Lir tells you 'Eh, as of over 3 weeks ago there is no gf, but Roisin is great.'

You tell Lir 'OH NO' 390

You emote 'NiBLeT oopses' to Lir

You emote 'NiBLeT sorries :(' to Lir

> Lir tells you 'No worries.'

You emote 'NiBLeT sighs, I usually am more careful than that but you two seemed kind of

inseparable, so I thought it was safe, and I bet now I'm just digging deeper :/' to Lir 395

> Lir tells you 'Hey, I can live with talking about it. It was kinda my choice... I'll talk about

it if you want to.'

You emote 'NiBLeT nods, only if you want to' to Lir

You tell Lir 'I'm not trying to nose in'

> Lir tells you 'Hey, no worries. AS I said, I'm fine with it.' 400

You emote 'NiBLeT smiles' to Lir

You tell Lir 'I think she's so cool :) not as cool as you, obviously . . ;)'

> Lir tells you 'Sometimes we were inseperable, and kt seemed to think that we were forever. She

is very cool, but being together, that close, was wrecking my head. We're still friends.'

You emote 'NiBLeT onods' to Lir 405

> Zach smiles

You tell Lir 'that sounds familiar actually'

You emote 'NiBLeT smiles everyone neeeeeds space' to Lir

> Lir asks of you 'Maybe it happened to you not so long ago?'

You tell Lir 'well, I've heard recently that it's unhealthy to spend 24/7 with someone ;)' 410

You tell Lir 'I knew that, of course'

> Lir tells you 'Well, we weren't, I actually got vaugely worried that I might not be able to spend

huge amounts of time with anyone.. but I think I'm just paranoid.'

You emote 'NiBLeT noddles' to Lir

You emote 'NiBLeT brb' to Lir 415

[-S U-] NiBLeT goes off duty.

Idle message set to ....

TeLBiN NiBLeT idles, brb

until you type a new command.

Fenwick came back for some odd reason. 420

- Lir huggles Fen

- Sexy Fenwick hugs back

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hey'

You emote : NiBLeT is back

You emote 'NiBLeT smiles' to Lir 425

> Lir asks of you 'So, where were we?'

You ask of Lir 'any chance of a reconciliation?'

You tell Lir 'that was going to be my next question'

(+ BubbaFett fades in. +)

- chown -R BubbaFett says 'hi' 430

You say 'loey bubbafett, long time no see'

> Lir tells you 'I don't know. I don't want to break up with her again.'

You emote 'NiBLeT nods' to Lir

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hi bubba'

- chown -R BubbaFett smiles 435

You emote 'NiBLeT understands that completely, totallly, and without any misundestanding at all'

to Lir

You emote 'NiBLeT giggles' to Lir

You tell Lir 'tell lir oh, +r'

> Lir tells you 'Aye.' 440

You emote 'NiBLeT nods' to Lir

> [blimey has connected] [friend] [coder] [spod] [idler] modem-28.neodymium.dialup.pol.co.uk

(+ blimey is in the house! +)

You say 'blimey'

You say 'my hero' 445

- chown -R BubbaFett says 'blimey'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hi blimey'

- cor blimey says 'hi there'

= blimey shows deference to you with a bow

- Lir waves to Blimey... 450

- chown -R BubbaFett says 'brb :)'

- Lir says 'And everyone else of course.'

> cor blimey tells you 'got to complain to xanth about the admin@amnesiahouse.org email addressw'

You tell blimey 'ahh, yes, of course'

> Zach lix 455

You emote 'NiBLeT smiles' to Zach

You ask of Zach 'so, do you miss me?'

- Lir says 'Ooo, and cool outer limits prog on t'

- Lir says '+v'

You ask of Zach 'or are you not interested in me anymore?' 460

> Zach doesn’t like you at all ;)

You emote 'NiBLeT smirks' to Zach

You ask of Zach 'where are you spodding atm?'

You tell Zach 'never mind'

You emote 'NiBLeT will icq at you' to Zach 465

> cor blimey doesn't have the ability to set up these email addresses

You emote 'NiBLeT nods' to blimey

You tell blimey 'I know that now that I'm thinking abou tit'

> cor blimey tells you 'hmmm, there might be a good reason we don't have it'

You ask of blimey 'why why?' 470

- Sexy Fenwick asks 'wot one?'

You ask of blimey 'because it's an alias for intra?'

> cor blimey tells you 'for instance if the name "admin" is already used for some purpose on

intra'

You tell blimey 'right' 475

> cor blimey nods

- Lir says 'Eh, called Music of the Spheres.'

- Sexy Fenwick asks 'old ones or the new remake ones?'

- Lir says 'New ones.'

> cor blimey will log in and try to investigate quickly 480

- Sexy Fenwick says 'ahh'

- Sexy Fenwick sighs

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hmm'

> cor blimey will email xanth with the details

- Lir asks 'Not good?' 485

You emote : NiBLeT looks at bones in mirror

- Lir asks 'What kind of bones?'

You say 'mine'

You say 'collarbones'

- Lir says 'Lucky girl. It's rare I can see my bones these days :)' 490

You emote : NiBLeT nods

You emote : NiBLeT didn't used to be able to see them at all, and I really like them :)

- Lir marvels at the svelt young Niblet :)

- chown -R BubbaFett looks around

You emote : NiBLeT smiles 495

You emote : NiBLeT is starting to see shape in her arms too, which is nice

You emote : NiBLeT didn't wear sleeveless shirts for 10 years

- Sexy Fenwick is just a big fat lump all over

You emote : NiBLeT is too

> cor blimey tells you 'there oughtn't to be a problem using "admin" it seems' 500

- Lir says 'Well, some kind of shape is usually useful. Apart from when you wear a toga.'

You emote : NiBLeT grins

You emote : NiBLeT didn't have any shape at halloween to be honest

You emote : NiBLeT was a fatter lump then

- Lir says 'You had shape.... I saw it... lots of it.' 505

- chown -R BubbaFett is content as a fat lump

- Lir says 'No, that came out wrog.'

You emote : NiBLeT lol!!

You emote : NiBLeT laughs and takes it wrong then and gets all offended ;)

You emote : NiBLeT thinks . o O ( you had shape, roomsful of it ;) ) 510

You emote : NiBLeT sighs :)

You say 'those were the days'

- Lir asks 'What do you mean?'

You emote : NiBLeT lol, beats me!

You say 'those were the days, when we walked around wearing only sheets' 515

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hmm'

You ask 'isn't that a song?'

- Sexy Fenwick twiddles her thumbs

You emote : NiBLeT twiddles fennie's thumbs

- Lir twiddles Fen's thumbs 520

You emote : NiBLeT points

You say 'stop that'

- Lir says 'Damn, you got there first.'

- Sexy Fenwick is bored

- Lir tries to think of some way to excite Fen. 525

= blimey twiddles everyone's toes

- Lir listens carefully.

You exclaim 'what is that one?!'

You emote : NiBLeT thinks . o O ( Cannot find command 'twiddle' )

= blimey winks slyly at you 530

- Lir asks 'Why do I suspect he just coded it?'

You emote : NiBLeT smiles

- chown -R BubbaFett goes to read a magazine or something

You emote : NiBLeT grinnies

- Lir says 'Oh don't... don't be a bore.' 535

- Sexy Fenwick strips cuz it is too hot

- Sexy Fenwick is alone, not very sensual

- cor blimey wonders what magazine BubbaFett has

- chown -R BubbaFett has a newsweek around here somewhere

- chown -R BubbaFett says 'and a wired' 540

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hmm'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hmm'

- Sexy Fenwick wants a waterice now

You emote : NiBLeT giggles

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hmm niblet you know wot a water ice is... dont you' 545

You emote : NiBLeT noddles!

- Sexy Fenwick exclaims 'thank goodness!'

You emote : NiBLeT smiles

- Lir doesn't.

You say 'yummy, it's summer fare' 550

- Sexy Fenwick figured as much hehe

You say 'yeah'

- Sexy Fenwick asks 'you know wot shaved ice is?'

- chown -R BubbaFett knows what ice water is

- Sexy Fenwick says 'and or a slushie' 555

- Sexy Fenwick thinks . o O ( note a slushie and shaved ice are not the same )

- Lir says 'Ah, ok, now I think I'm beginning to understand. but please, go on.'

- Sexy Fenwick thinks . o O ( but for explaining purposes either will do )

You emote : NiBLeT nods

- chown -R BubbaFett asks 'sno cone?' 560

- Sexy Fenwick says 'no a snow coen doesnt work'

You say 'slightly different'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'cuz that is ice with flavour on it'

You emote : NiBLeT nods

You emote : NiBLeT grins atta fen 565

- Lir asks 'So a waterice is?'

- chown -R BubbaFett asks 'so this is ice without flavour?'

> [AireCibo has connected] [friend] [resident] 24.64.76.44

(+ AireCibo lands beside you, startling you somewhat +)

- Sexy Fenwick says 'which is wot shaved ice is but shaved ice is closer to waterice then a snow 570

cone'

You say 'alloey airecibo'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'no but a snow cone is actual little ice balls'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hi aire'

- Hair Model AireCibo exclaims '10,000 bucks in the glove box baby!' 575

- Sexy Fenwick says 'where as waterice is not'

- Sexy Fenwick asks 'ok you know wot shaved ice is then?'

- Lir has no idea at all what you're talking about.

You ask 'you won it?!?'

You ask 'did you win/??!?!??!!?' 580

- Sexy Fenwick laughs

- Hair Model AireCibo says 'heya folks'

- Sexy Fenwick asks 'do you know wot a slushie is then?'

- Lir says 'Yes.'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'ok' 585

- Hair Model AireCibo says 'no it's an ad on the radio for the Calgary Stampede'

You say 'oh . . . oh well.'

You emote : NiBLeT is hoping you will win the hair thing

- Hair Model AireCibo says 'thanks Nibs'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'water ice is basicly a slushie but more solid anc scooped into a cup or paper 590

cone like icecream'

- chown -R BubbaFett asks 'with no flavor?'

You emote : NiBLeT is finding it hard to walk and/or type with fingers, toes, and legs crossed all

the time

- Lir says 'Ah, ok, now I think I understand.' 595

You say 'no no no'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'bubba shush you know wot a waterice is'

You say 'like ice cream but made from water instead of milk, really'

You say 'kind of'

- Hair Model AireCibo exclaims 'it was payday today though:)!' 600

- Hair Model AireCibo cheers

You emote : NiBLeT yays!

- Sexy Fenwick exclaims 'woo payday!'

You say 'same for me, well, I got a check from the fam today'

- Sexy Fenwick was just using icecream for the scoop refference 605

- Hair Model AireCibo buys beers

You say 'it's not like ice milk though, closer to snocone than ice cream'

You say 'it's hard to describe'

- Sexy Fenwick laughs no its not hehe

You emote : NiBLeT laughs 610

- Sexy Fenwick says 'stop talking bout icecream hehe'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'your confusing me adn i know wot it is'

- Hair Model AireCibo says 'DQ Blizzards...mmmmmmm'

- Lir asks 'Surely it's early enough over there to go out and buy one Fen?'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'umm' 615

- Sexy Fenwick says 'if i didnt live in delaware then yes'

You emote : NiBLeT smiles

- Sexy Fenwick says 'bit ots 9 pm everything closes at 9'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'whic is really sad cuz the sun isnt even down all the way yet'

You emote : NiBLeT smiles 620

You emote : NiBLeT nods

- Hair Model AireCibo toOts

You say 'the sun is up here until like 11ish'

You say 'not completely,but not completely down either'

- Hair Model AireCibo says 'it's light all night here:)' 625

- Lir says 'Well, we get the sun for a little longer than you Nib, but not that much.'

- Hair Model AireCibo says 'never really gets dark'

You emote : NiBLeT nods

- Sexy Fenwick dont understand

- Sexy Fenwick asks 'its still kind of light out at 11 pm?' 630

You say 'we're on a higher latitude'

You emote : NiBLeT nods

You say 'indeed'

- Hair Model AireCibo says 'you can drive without lights on your car till 10:30'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'wicked' 635

- Sexy Fenwick says 'i would hate that though'

- Sexy Fenwick is a night person

- Hair Model AireCibo says 'nah, great for outdoor parties'

You say 'the downside is that it's completely dark at 4 p.m. in the winter :P'

- Sexy Fenwick exclaims 'woo!' 640

- Hair Model AireCibo says 'yep'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'i would love it then'

You say 'depressssssooooo'

- Sexy Fenwick loves winter and night

- chown -R BubbaFett says 'kick ass' 645

- Sexy Fenwick exclaims 'its perfect!'

- Hair Model AireCibo says 'dark when you goto work, dark when you come home'

You say 'you think you would, but you woudln't'

You emote : NiBLeT thought the same thing

- Lir says 'Again, yup. Hence daylight saving and all that. I like the night, but the sun keeps 650

me sane now and again.'

- Sexy Fenwick would

- Sexy Fenwick dont like sun

- Sexy Fenwick dont like summer

You emote : NiBLeT loves winter and night too, but you've got to see sun, and it was bad 655

because I wouldn't wake up until like 2 in the afternoon because I'm a sloth, so I never saw any sun

- Lir says 'Winter is cool, but around Feb/March I start to crave some sun. I hate the heat, but

without the summer I would have done something bad to myself a long time ago.'

- Sexy Fenwick grins

You emote : NiBLeT agrees with Lir's point of view 660

- Sexy Fenwick will be in darkness for 3 weeks yay!

- Sexy Fenwick does a little dance hehe

- chown -R BubbaFett asks 'eh?'

> Zach tells you 'you should be loggin this , good convo ;)'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'when i go to engladn in december' 665

You emote 'NiBLeT nods, I am ;)' to Zach

- Sexy Fenwick smiles

- chown -R BubbaFett asks 'why is it dark there?'

- Sexy Fenwick laughs

- Sexy Fenwick says 'they were just saying how it gets dark at 4 pm' 670

(- AireCibo quivers slightly, toots *POOF!* and is gone -)

> [AireCibo has disconnected] [friend] [resident] 24.64.76.44.ab.wave.home.com

- chown -R BubbaFett says 'oh'

> Zach tells you 'well good then :)'

- Lir says 'Well, yes, but there will be some sunlight.' 675

- Sexy Fenwick hic ups

- Sexy Fenwick knows :o)

- Sexy Fenwick is planning out her december activities

- chown -R BubbaFett didn't realize it was that far north

You emote 'NiBLeT nods' to Zach 680

- chown -R BubbaFett purrrs

- Lir will brb

- Sexy Fenwick is so lame she is making def plans for dec

- Sexy Fenwick says 'adn it is only july hehe'

You emote : NiBLeT smiles 685

> Zach grins

You emote : NiBLeT did that

You say 'you kind of have to if you want to get decent prices on plane tickets tho'

- Sexy Fenwick will be in scotland on december 15,16 and possibly the 17th

- Sexy Fenwick grins 690

- Lir is back.

- Sexy Fenwick is front

- Sexy Fenwick says 'there *will* be an Ah meet for me on december 18th'

- Lir thinks, "Hmm, I'm sure I could manage those dates... well, if I manage to speak really nicey

to my new boss. 695

- Sexy Fenwick says 'i have spoken, so this is now fact'

- Sexy Fenwick grins

- Lir asks 'Where's the meet?'

You emote : NiBLeT laughs

You emote : NiBLeT nods 700

- Sexy Fenwick says 'umm i think i told Gjinn that it was gonna be at her place :o)'

You say 'if I'm settled somewhere, it can be at my place'

- Sexy Fenwick asks 'ooh you staying?'

- Lir asks 'You moving to Scotland Niblet?'

You say 'but that requires me having (1) a job and (2) a place' 705

- Sexy Fenwick says 'ahh'

- Lir asks 'Are you finished college yet?'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'well i dont htink the meet can be in scotland only cuz i want everyone to coem

and i dont think everyone can get to scotland :o('

You emote : NiBLeT just has dissertation left 710

You emote : NiBLeT smiles

- Lir asks ''But who are you staying with in Scotland?'

- Sexy Fenwick ?

- Sexy Fenwick asks 'you askin me Lir?'

You emote : NiBLeT catches and kills spider-type entity that has been invading her room 715

You emote : NiBLeT says a little prayer

You emote : NiBLeT likes them outside, honest guv

- Lir says 'Yup. You Fen.'

- Sexy Fenwick is gonna stay with nikki and rory and paul

- chown -R BubbaFett stays here :) 720

- Sexy Fenwick says 'and whoever else that may be living in da flat at the time hehe'

- Lir says 'Ah, good choice. Hmm, that means if you're over there you'll most likely have nicked

my bed...'

You emote : NiBLeT buries it at sea, so to speak

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hmm' 725

- Sexy Fenwick dances about

You say 'is your bed is the living-room one?'

- Lir says 'Yes, it is indeed. Where I shall be resting my weary head tomorrow night :)'

- Sexy Fenwick is excited hehe even though its over 100 days from now

- Sexy Fenwick bounces about 730

- Sexy Fenwick is gonna be dragged everywhere with freya hehe

You emote : NiBLeT did a day~countdown

- Sexy Fenwick cant wait!

- Sexy Fenwick has 2 counts though hehe

You exclaim 'you'd be surprised how fast it goes once you get in double digits!!' 735

- Sexy Fenwick is getting tme confused so i am gonna stick to one until that one is over

- Lir says 'Rory's promised me that its going to be cleaned before tomorrow. It's strange, no

matter who else sleeps there, I think I'll always feel its mine.'

You emote : NiBLeT had a counter on her homepage for a long time, but I htink I've removed it

- Sexy Fenwick says 'bah actually i have 3' 740

You emote : NiBLeT smiles

You emote : NiBLeT giggles

- Sexy Fenwick asks 'and why is it your bed?'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hmm'

You say 'it will be as exciting as you think it will be, if you make sure to do the things you 745

want to do'

You say 'because it has his name painted on it'

You emote : NiBLeT smiles serenely

- Sexy Fenwick wants to do everything!

- Sexy Fenwick laughs 750

You emote : NiBLeT giggles

- Sexy Fenwick will do mostly everything minus about half of everything

- Lir says 'Hmm... it was my bed for the entire of summer 98 and I thik I made both a physical and

mental impression on it and the entire flat.'

> Zach is now jon_rowland@yahoo.co.uk 755

> Zach tells you 'as a spare email'

You tell Zach 'ahh, ok'

- Sexy Fenwick says 'oh well that is a good reason :o)'

> Zach tells you 'to replace my .cam addie whenb it dies'

- Sexy Fenwick bounces 760

- Sexy Fenwick gets to spend xmas with a family that actually still celebrates xmas for the real

reason

- Sexy Fenwick says 'woooo'

You emote : NiBLeT thinks it should be poetic, but it's not

- Sexy Fenwick says 'i mean eventhough xmas isnt my thing' 765

- Sexy Fenwick says 'but still its the family thing im all excited about'

You emote : NiBLeT smiles

- Sexy Fenwick has to woo an entire family on xmas

- chown -R BubbaFett says 'aren't you so proud :)'

You emote : NiBLeT laughs 770

You emote : NiBLeT hears a touch of sarcasm in bubbafett's erm voice?

- Sexy Fenwick laughs

- Sexy Fenwick bounces

- Sexy Fenwick asks 'you think i can woo an entire family?'

- Sexy Fenwick asks 'do you think i can handle it?' 775

You emote : NiBLeT nods :)

You emote : NiBLeT smiles

You say 'be yourself'

- Lir says 'Been there, done that... sorta :)'

- Sexy Fenwick exclaims 'be myself?!?!' 780

You emote : NiBLeT points, I've wooed zachy's fam

- Sexy Fenwick says 'i said i wanted to woo them not scare the shit out of them and make them pull

out their hair'

- chown -R BubbaFett asks 'who else is fen gonna be?'

You emote : NiBLeT laughs, oh, my mistake ;) 785

- Sexy Fenwick grins

- Sexy Fenwick gets all nervous

- Sexy Fenwick has never attempted to woo a whole fmaily before

- Sexy Fenwick bounces about

- Sexy Fenwick says 'bah hehe ive done gone and made myself all excited' 790

You emote : NiBLeT knows you'll be successful

- Sexy Fenwick says 'hehe'

- Lir says 'Its easy. As Nib says, just be yourself. It works for me, even if most ppl would

think me being myself would be guaranteed to have ppl lock up their sons and daughters.'

- Zach grins 795

- chown -R BubbaFett says 'ah, i knew i didn't want children for some reason'

- Lir laughs

- Sexy Fenwick says '158days until i am in england'

- Zach says 'ooh'

- Lir says 'Oh but darling, they'd be perfectly safe with me :)' 800

- Sexy Fenwick laughs

- 75,87,158 Fenwick says 'hmm'

- 75,87,158 Fenwick says 'hehe somone check those numbers for me'

- chown -R BubbaFett isn't safe with himself

> Zach thinks he'll go now 805

- 75,87,158 Fenwick says 'from now until september 19th, from now until octover 2md, from now until

december 11th'

You emote 'NiBLeT sighs' to Zach

You emote : NiBLeT lix

You emote 'NiBLeT huggles and kisses lots' to Zach 810

You emote : NiBLeT grins

You say 'indeed'

- 75,87,158 Fenwick asks 'well is someone checkin for me?'

You emote : NiBLeT won't :P

> Zach snoggles n lix 815

- 75,87,158 Fenwick has to do the math in her head hehe

You emote : NiBLeT will, gimme a minute

- cor blimey can work this out really easily in delphi

- 75,87,158 Fenwick says ':op'

You say 'oh, go on then bli' 820

- cor blimey thinks . o O ( the answer is StrToDate('02/10/1999') - StrToDate('19/09/1999') )

- 75,87,158 Fenwick says 'umm'

(+ Grimstone is in the house! +)

- Lir says 'Ah, the wonders of modern technology.'

* Zach tells its friends 'night' 825

- Zach wavoies night folks

- cor blimey says 'what is the date you're arriving...you mentioned 3 dates...'

- 75,87,158 Fenwick would rather count on her fingers

- 75,87,158 Fenwick says 'it takes less time'

> Zach lix 830

(- Zach unidles irl -)

> [Zach has disconnected] [spouse] [friend] [resident] [spod] [idler] box.whiting.co.uk

- cor blimey assures you it is a lot slower ;)

- 75,87,158 Fenwick wants from now until september 19th, now until octover 2nd, and now until

december 11th 835

- 75,87,158 Fenwick says 'no cuz you gotta type in the code to do the math'

- 75,87,158 Fenwick bops around

- Lir involuntarily adds an s to the end of Fen's sentence...

- 75,87,158 Fenwick blinks and is confuseed

You emote : NiBLeT grins 840

You say 'he's just being all americann-hating'

- 75,87,158 Fenwick says 'woo i can type with out looking at my kb'

You emote : NiBLeT grins

- chown -R BubbaFett asks 'wtf? maths?'

- 75,87,158 Fenwick says 'can i coudlnt remember where the b was' 845

- Lir says 'I'm not hating any americans, just the way they speak english'

- cor blimey thinks . o O ( oops )

You say 'for some reason they say "maths" and "sport" rather than the obviously correct "math" and

"sports" ;) '

- cor blimey thinks . o O ( Trunc(StrToDate('19/09/1999')- Date))=75 ) 850

- 75,87,158 Fenwick says 'ahh'

- cor blimey says '75 days till 19th sept'

- 75,87,158 Fenwick says 'thank you for that clarification Niblet i was confused'

You emote : NiBLeT nods, they're a confusing lot

- Lir asks 'Who are, exactly?' 855

- 75,87,158 Fenwick asks 'das wot i got right?'

You say 'a bit simple, bless them.'

You emote : NiBLeT winks

- cor blimey thinks . o O ( Trunc(StrToDate('02/10/1999')- Date)=88 )

- cor blimey says '88 days till the second of oct' 860

- Lir says 'Come on Nib, clarify who you mean by 'they''

- 75,87,158 Fenwick asks 'wot do i got in me prefix?'

You exclaim 'all non-americans of course!!'

You emote : NiBLeT laughs ;)

You say '87' 865

- Lir says 'Good recovery.'

- cor blimey says 'good point niblet'

- cor blimey says 'if thats correct'

= blimey casts an eye over to you and grins broadly

- 75,88,158 Fenwick asks 'how do i see my prefix? or cna i not do that?' 870

You say 'x yourself'

- Lir says 'Hmm, I should really go soon or something.'

- cor blimey says '"x me"'

You ask 'or seeeprefix?'

You ask 'is that right?' 875

- 75,88,158 Fenwick laughs

You emote : NiBLeT sees hers

- cor blimey says 'tell yourself something'

You say 'wait, no Id on't'

> TeLBiN NiBLeT tells you 'somethine' 880

You tell yourself 'somethine'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick keeps typing x quinn and wonders why it doesnt work

- cor blimey says 'use "x me"'

You emote : NiBLeT LOL!

- cor blimey says 'that always works' 885

You say 'and it's annoying if you want to x mehlindi'

You say 'or similar'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick cant see prefix if she tells herself

- cor blimey says 'mek used to have a clever name'

- cor blimey says 'that is the longest name you can guarantee will not have multiple matches' 890

- chown -R BubbaFett watches stuff scroll by

- 75,88,158 Fenwick laughs

You ask 'yeah?'

You ask 'what about kxzwejosuehtribogtdkrt?'

- cor blimey says 'you're missing the point' 895

- chown -R BubbaFett nods

You emote : NiBLeT giggles

- cor blimey says 'besides that is too long to be legal'

You say 'he he he he he'

You emote : NiBLeT isn't missing the point 900

- cor blimey says 'especially since it has a question mark in it ;)'

You emote : NiBLeT is ignoring the point ;)

You say 'if you want to be pedantic ;)'

You emote : NiBLeT LOL!

- 75,88,158 Fenwick dances about 905

- cor blimey doesn't want to be pedantic

- cor blimey are pedantic

You say 'you win the pedant game again, blimes :)'

You emote : NiBLeT lol!

You say 'nice nice nice' 910

= blimey smirks atta you

- 75,88,158 Fenwick is hot!

- 75,88,158 Fenwick cries

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'i cant take any more off'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'my skin dont come off' 915

- Lir is going to escape from all this and save the phone bill. I'll talk to you all anon.

You emote : NiBLeT noddles

= Fenwick huggles Lir tightly

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'bye lir'

You say 'nini lirness' 920

You emote 'NiBLeT lix byee' to Lir

- 75,88,158 Fenwick laughs, just remembered I had to memorize all 50 prepositions in grade 6

> Lir exclaims to you 'Bye!'

(- Lir transcends this reality to an alternative existence. -)

> [Lir has disconnected] [friend] [resident] 212.2.176.154 925

- 75,88,158 Fenwick dont remember them now though hehe

- cor blimey had to learn propositional calculus

- 75,88,158 Fenwick only remembers

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'hmm'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'i take that back' 930

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'i dont remember any'

You say 'sounds like a useful exercise :P "gosh, what's that word for when you like don't step on

something oh yeah, OVER that's it"'

You say 'I mean, prepositions are a bit unforgettable, and they are all fairly specific'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick laughs 935

You say 'in grade 6 you're like 11, blimey'

- cor blimey says 'what i don't understand is people talk about going "under" a subway'

You ask 'is that when you learned propositional calculus?'

- cor blimey asks 'surely you go through it ?'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick laughs 940

You emote : NiBLeT grins atta bli

You emote : NiBLeT nods

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'i have never heard anyone say " under a wunway"'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'erm'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'under a subway " either' 945

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says '+ "'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick cant type

- cor blimey asks 'have you heard this one niblet ?'

You emote : NiBLeT listens

- 75,88,158 Fenwick ponders under a subway 950

You say 'fen, a subway here isn't the same as a subway there'

- cor blimey says 'my main complaint is people don't know the word "datum"'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'explain then'

You say 'a subway here is like an underground walking passage to the other side of the road'

- chown -R BubbaFett says 'they've got chunnels and whatnot' 955

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'datum - verb. to place a date on'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick grins

You emote : NiBLeT laughs

- cor blimey wants you all to be aware of the fact that "data" is plural of "datum"

You say 'nice' 960

You emote : NiBLeT nods

You say 'we are'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick knew that

- 75,88,158 Fenwick took latin for 2 years

You say 'ppl with brains pick things like that up' 965

- cor blimey says 'thats why you don't say "less data" for instance'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick rarely uses the word data hehe

- chown -R BubbaFett says 'datums'

- cor blimey wonders why people can't get "less" and "fewer" the right way round

- chown -R BubbaFett explains louse and lice? 970

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'ecce in pictoria est puella nomenae cornelia.'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick laughs

You say 'say you do when you're introducing Leslie to that guy from Star Trek: "Les: Data."'

- cor blimey exclaims 'what this country needs is more qualified people!'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick is certified.. does that count? 975

You emote : NiBLeT giggles

- cor blimey says 'not just a greater quantity, but also a higher quality ;)'

You emote : NiBLeT wonders if someone in a psychatric ward has ever thought of writing "truly

committed" on a resume/CV

- 75,88,158 Fenwick is high quality 980

- 75,88,158 Fenwick bounces around

- cor blimey asks 'do people in psychiatric wards regularly apply for jobs do you think ?'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'boing boing boing'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick giggles

You ask 'if that's their particular compulsion maybe?' 985

- cor blimey says 'or do they log on to talkers and boing instead? ;)'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'i am here voluntarily'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'its not the same'

You emote : NiBLeT lol

You emote : NiBLeT grins lots 990

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'i can leave whenever i want'

You say 'he he'

+ there is no escape

- 75,88,158 Fenwick grins

- 75,88,158 Fenwick often wonders that though 995

You say 'spodding, I have decided, is not a hobby so much as a lifestyle'

= blimey escapes from the psychiatric ward with Fenwick

- 75,88,158 Fenwick grins

You emote : NiBLeT wows

You say 'new' 1000

You say 'I've been getting requests for other socials, bli'

You emote : NiBLeT will make a list

Cannot find command 'escape'

= blimey can add in any socials you need.

You emote : NiBLeT lol! 1005

- 75,88,158 Fenwick shakes her head

= blimey smirks broadly at Fenwick

You emote : NiBLeT should go to bed

You emote : NiBLeT sighs

You emote : NiBLeT lix 1010

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'no you shouldnt'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick exclaims 'no no no!'

- chown -R BubbaFett hugs niblet

- cor blimey says 'not while we're having so much fun'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick makes Niblet stay 1015

[!S U!] blimey forces NiBLeT on duty

[+S U+] NiBLeT returns to duty.

[ S U ] Fenwick laughs

You emote : NiBLeT sighs

You emote : NiBLeT neeeds sleeeeeeep 1020

[ S U ] NiBLeT giggles

[ S U ] NiBLeT nice

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'nah no you dont'

[ S U ] NiBLeT says 'nice too'

You emote : NiBLeT does 1025

= blimey isn't really using socials, but NiBLeT was fooled into thinking he was.

[*S U*] blimey used echoall

You emote : NiBLeT LOL!

[ S U ] Fenwick lol

You exclaim 'INDEED!!!!!!!!' 1030

You emote : NiBLeT tsktsktsktsktsks

- chown -R BubbaFett says 'brb, need chemicals'

[=S U=] blimey looks at everyone and laughs out loud

- 75,88,158 Fenwick rolls around alughing at Niblet

You say 'right, I've sussed you out, blimes' 1035

You emote : NiBLeT smiles

You emote : NiBLeT goes to bed

You say 'nighty night ppl'

= Fenwick gives you a hug

You emote : NiBLeT loves you lots 1040

- 75,88,158 Fenwick says 'nite niblet'

- 75,88,158 Fenwick exclaims 'if you loved me you would stay!'

You emote : NiBLeT grins

You emote : NiBLeT sluuuuurps, byeeeeeeeeee

 

Appendix C.: Log from Surfers

You tell mog 'going to the movies tonight'

You tell mog 'know any good ones?'

You emote 'NiBLeT grins, looks like you're idle' to mog.

You tell mog 'right, I’m off soon'

* the hatter tells its friends 'morning mikey' 5

> musicman mog sniffles...

You emote 'NiBLeT awws, wassamatta?' to MoOg.

[blimey has disconnected] [Friend]

kanga catches a wave into the shore.

Cracker says 'strange liquor. It's clear, thick and sweet. Tsates like listerine/.' 10

net.platonic PhlebAs says 'lo kanga.'

wellHungOver! donkey scratches

net.platonic PhlebAs asks 'How do you know it isn't listerine?'

soulless callista says 'yeah..listerine in a different bottle'

} Spin DrB tells the friends of hatter 'ello.' 15

> wtf? MoOg asks of you '?'

Cracker says 'my mouth is still covered n plaque and "germs that can cause gingivitus"'

You emote : NiBLeT grins

You ask of MoOg '??'

You ask of MoOg 'did I miss a tell?' 20

Cracker says 'plus also, Listerine doesnt give you the monster

hangover that I have today.'

net.platonic PhlebAs asks 'How do you know?'

* evil.tart EricTCleric departs to go and stuff his face. Maybe seeyas

tomorrow, Office rollout permitting 25

net.platonic PhlebAs reckons it would

You ask 'how do you know -that-?'

Cracker exclaims 'I once was a poor student!'

> wtf? MoOg ums

SunburntKid KBLaKe says 'listerine always gives me a hangover..' 30

> wtf? MoOg tells you '> NiBLeT hugs lots'

soulless callista has never heard of Newkies and lives in PA

> wtf? MoOg tells you 'You emote 'MoOg grins lots' to NiBLeT.'

wellHungOver! donkey sighs.. anyone knows what innuendo means?

* evil.tart EricTCleric hugs/waves/snogs/etc 35

> wtf? MoOg asks of you '> NiBLeT awws, wassamatta?'

Cracker says 'Newcastle Brown Ale...'

You tell MoOg 'ahh'

> wtf? MoOg tells you 'so I got confused'

You tell MoOg 'that was for mog, sorry' 40

soulless callista says 'Oh'

> wtf? MoOg ahs

soulless callista says 'that'

You ask of mog 'aww, wassamatta?'

EricTCleric gets washed away in the surf. 45

[EricTCleric has disconnected] [Friend]

soulless callista shudders

You tell MoOg 'you're preferred, and it's hard to have moog preferred when mog is on :)'

net.platonic PhlebAs thinks . o O ( innuendo means newcastle brown ale? )

> musicman mog tugs on your sleeve... 50

> musicman mog tells you 'don't... go..'

You emote 'NiBLeT listens' to mog.

net.platonic PhlebAs grinz

You emote 'NiBLeT grins' to mog.

kanga gets washed away in the surf. 55

> musicman mog wipes his eyes

soulless callista says 'no, innuendo means something suggested without being formally alluded to'

Cracker says 'Newcastle brown ale means hangover.'

You say 'it means insinuation'

Cracker exclaims 'Yes come smell the country fresh air!' 60

FlOwEr catches a wave into the shore.

wellHungOver! donkey sighs.. so anyone knows what innuendo mean?

You emote : NiBLeT points above

SunburntKid KBLaKe duhs at the donkey

* the hatter goes byebye, seeya tomorrow 65

soulless callista says 'we just told you, donkey'

wellHungOver! donkey says 'missed it'

You say 'actually, everyone knows what it means'

SunburntKid KBLaKe noticed

FlOwEr gets washed away in the surf. 70

You say 'look about 6 lines up'

} Peaches~ Chinook waves (to friends of hatter)

net.platonic PhlebAs grinz...A donkey walked onto a beach and asked for a definition of innuendo...

Diljale catches a wave into the shore.

> wtf? MoOg grins 75

> wtf? MoOg huggles heaps

net.platonic PhlebAs says '...So everybody gave him one.'

Diljale gets washed away in the surf.

wellHungOver! donkey hmmz.. something suggested without being formally

declared??? 80

You ask 'not a classic as far as jokes goes, is it?'

net.platonic PhlebAs says 'No, had to be said though'

porschea catches a wave into the shore.

You say 'it's more like an insinuation, an allusion'

[lausey has connected] [Friend] 85

} travelling drkelly waves (to friends of hatter)

You say 'it's usually suggestive'

} travelling drkelly snogs byebye (to friends of hatter)

You say 'etc'

* the hatter snogs kelly to the floor 90

Cracker says 'nudg, nudge, wink, wink..'

[hatter has disconnected] [Friend]

You emote : NiBLeT nods

You emote : NiBLeT grins

You emote 'NiBLeT dunno what to do, go out, s