7 Little Words

I've noticed recently that I'm using a lot of three letter "words" these days. Or, more specifically, when I'm emailing, twittering, or IMing, I tend to use one of my seven "go to" phrases rather than bother with all that pesky typing to convey my current emotions. Oh, sure, I'm happy to bust out the wordy phrase-ology, and I'm known to make up words at the drop of a hat if I can't seem to find the right one in my wordrepository. But on any given Sunday I'm more likely to go with the familiar, the comforting. Yes, my precious stable of three letter words is the comfort food of communication.

Of course Twitter actually encourages this abbreviated behavior, limiting your witty rejoinders to a paltry yet delicious 140 characters (finally lending street cred and purpose to the spate of url shortening sites on the intertron). But I began embracing truncation long before Twitter's first comehither tweet. No, I realize I've been working on my seven word scale for years, shrewdly preparing for this moment, this communication confluence.

So I'm saying that now is the time when we need something comfortable around which to curl our aching typing fingers. Now, when we're facing an electronically chatty blitzkrieg. Now, when we're pulled in so many attention stretching directions and constantly bombarded with electronic updates, micro, real time, and even old school. Now, when we've become homebodies on the home row.

For, really, how can I be expected to post witty comments on Twitter, fire off thoughtful email, and carry on stimulating IMversation simultaneously? At some point I need to do other things... Things like work, eat, pet the kids, pick up the cats at school. Etc.*

Ah, but I've got an ace up my sleeve. I have the sharks with friggin' lasers. And, here for your perusal and enjoyment, and yes, maybe even mockery is my list in order from positive to negative from top to bottom:

Yay
Ahh
Hmm
Meh
Ugh (or Guh, same diff)
Ick
Eww

With this list I can generally and quickly convey most of the standard gamut of feelings I find myself, well, feeling, during my busy days and evenings of participating in webs 1, 2, and 3.0.

And, yes, I noticed that they have unique first letters and that I could, theoretically, therefore, reduce them to an even more fingersavingly small list: YAHMU(G)IE. Seriously, though. I'm not an animal.


SUPPLEMENTAL:

And now perhaps after perusing the list you cry foul, noting a missing favorite. My only defense is that this is MY list of seven three letter words, words I use all the time to convey my feelings about a specific thing, person, situation, etc. I said you could look at it, maybe even borrow it, but please, no judging!

I could have added one more: Hee. But I left what is arguably my favorite one off the list on purpose. I use "hee" a bit differently than most. I add or subtract 'e's to indicate just how amused I am. For example, a tired pun about """"" may only garner a "hee" or even a "he" as a response, while a sly comment about "Notice how they're getting downright lazy over at the pharmaceutical companies these days? Legadril? Really? I want some 'elbowprofin'" may be rewarded with a four, five, or even a six "e" hee.

Oh, and another gem: etc. could have been included, even if it typically doesn't convey emotion. But alas, it requires a fourth character, the period, so it's disqualified.