One afternoon last week I walked into the house to find our grandson helping Beth develop a personal emoji. You know, those little icons that go with emails and text messages to communicate emotion: happiness, sadness, anger, surprise.
Here in the digital age, where talking to people is becoming passe, we increasingly rely on these little gizmos to elucidate our text-based messages.
Emoji is the union of Japanese words that mean “picture” (e) and “character” (moji). A Japanese cell phone developer, inspired by icons used by TV weather forecasters, came up with the concept in the late 90s.
A California psychologist’s research on non-verbal communication suggests a need for emoji.
Albert Mehrabian, of UCLA, found that the words we speak in face-to-face conversation account for only 7 percent of what is communicated. Tone of voice conveys 38 percent of the message and body language 55 percent. Astounding, when you think about it. Thus, written messages sans body language and tone of voice could be subject to wildly varying interpretation.
Grandson and grandmother were discussing what color blush to put on the cheeks of grandmother’s personal emoji when I walked through.
On a recent trip, Beth and I tried a ride sharing service for the first time. The best known of these is Uber, though there are others: Lyft and Haxi.
We used Uber. It was great fun, convenient (though not without some hiccups) and relatively inexpensive. We had drivers from Mexico City, Kuwait, India, Ireland and even Bhutan … that’s the Himalayan nation where they measure happiness rather than economic output to gauge the health of the country. Oh, and there was Bryce, a chatterbox from Kansas.
Here’s how it works: You download the app on your SmartPhone. When you activate the app, the dispatcher (a server) greets you. You type in where you want to go and if you want to pool with another rider (for a lower fare). You tap an icon, and it gives you a price and shows you where your prospective driver is, what’s he driving and how many minutes away he is. There’s even a customer rating for your driver.
Tap “request” and a driver in his own car is headed your way. You can monitor his progress toward you on your phone. Jagit in a Chevrolet Tahoe picked us up one afternoon at the end of a long hike. He was wearing a turban — he is a Sikh from India. He had bottled water for us. We chatted about his home country, his experience in America. No money changes hands; the ride is charged to your credit card. No tips.
You can lose yourself reading quotes of Thomas Lanier Williams, who was born in Columbus 105 years ago Saturday.
In his stage directions for his 1955 Pulitzer winning Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Williams wrote, “Some mystery should be left in the revelation of character in a play, just as a great deal of mystery is always left in the revelation of character in life, even in one’s own character to himself.”
And, “What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it’s curved like a road through mountains.”
— A Streetcar Named Desire
And, “Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quickly you hardly catch it going.”
— The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore
And, “Enthusiasm is the most important thing in life.”
Saturday was also the birthday of A.E. Houseman, who in 1896 self-published A Shropshire Lad, a cycle of 63 poems from which comes the toast Meryl Streep delivered near the end of Out of Africa.: “Rose-lipped maidens, light foot lads”
Houseman wrote the following:
“Knowledge is good, method is good, but one thing beyond all others is necessary; and that is to have a head, not a pumpkin, on your shoulders and brains, not pudding, in your head.”
Words more relevant than ever in an age dominated by the superficial.
Birney Imes III is the immediate past publisher of The Dispatch.
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