-.. . . ..- -... _ -. --. .... . .. . -..-. In December, Joanne Jacobs noted the deleterious effect of pager notation on memoranda and other formal correspondence. A student was recently impertinent enough to send a message in that form to me.

how nice u r!!

using the shift key is my choice.

not urs.

My response: any further emails not expressed in standard English would be acknowledged, or not, at my discretion.

The pager notation is a modern version of a shorthand used by railroad telegraphers, years ago. The title of this post reflects my true reaction to such use in emails and memos. Decoding is left to the reader as an exercise.