Monday, November 16, 2009

What's in a name, anyway?


PING!!! has to be ranked top 3 on my list of pet peeves.

I am among the ranks of loyal crackberry addicts (disclaimer: I may exercise the right to rescind the aforementioned association when Sprint has the iPhone), and bbm (Blackberry messenger) snobs. SMS is soo 2007...but I digress. So my brother, the tech guru, told me the purpose of ping is to send a test signal to ensure proper function. Like a defibrilator, it seemingly shocks the system get things working again...or something. I don't know, but the point is to share that ping has a technical function.

However, in the crackberry world, the ping feature is used to grab your attention...like if you've left a question unanswered for too long, or just to see if you are there. The problem with ping is the message appears on your screen as PING!!! *gasp* How rude! Everyone knows that typing anything in all caps is equivalent to yelling, and-if that wasn't enough-bold red font and (not one, but) 3 exclamation points?!? Whiskey tango foxtrot. Wouldn't "hello?" or "still there?" or "hey" suffice and be a bit nicer? At least with the latter I would be more inclined to respond vs. my knee jerk response "oh no (s)he didn't" (insert lip curl and neck roll here).

But I get it, sometimes we all need a subtle reminder. Not a slap in the face...but a little sleeve tug to keep us focused. Not necessarily a PING!!! but just "ping." Still attention grabbing, yet non invasive and simply stated. We can all use a little ping(period) in our lives, and hopefully share a few laughs along the way. So... Nice to meet you! And oh yeah...if the blog fits, (please) follow.

1 comment:

  1. YAY sis....just PING!!!!!! I love it....so glad you started and I will definitely follow...its going to be fabulous. Dee

    ReplyDelete