Leaving the pandemic aside for the moment, I would like to know why it seems like very few people want to talk on the phone. And even less, seem to be comfortable meeting in person.

Short cryptic texting seems to be the preferred method of communication...well...if you can really call that communication.

About thirty people have responded to an ad I placed on Craigslist. I have had two phone conversations as a result of that. One of those people was a "professional musician" and the other was a young lady of about thirty. Neither one has actually followed through with what that said they wanted to do.

I indicated that although I am not some rich guy, money was not an issue so they could just name their own price for their services. I could agree or not based on what I thought the value to me would be.

I also indicated that I would try my best to promote their interest in music.

There were a couple of homeless guys who responded. I guess no matter how down and out you are in America you have a cell phone.

The people I meet on forums also appear to also be very reluctant to talk on the phone and even less to meet over Zoom or Skype. Obviously, this is not true in all cases but it seems to be the norm. Apparently many people are only comfortable hiding behind avatars and frequently say things I don't think they would ever say face to face. Where did they get the idea that because there is little recourse for what they say they have no responsibility for their actions?

This has become a communication world of more or less meaningless "one-liners", cryptic meanless conversation for the most part.

What the hell is up with that and how did we get to this point?

Billy

Just a guess. Ear damage? You can't read lips on the phone.

Maybe Billy when you mentioned that money was not an obstacle they thought it too be good to be true, don't know really its a funny old world.

Laziness, lack of care, lock-downs, poor grammar, poor spelling (I one spent ages trying to find out what "prolly" meant), lack of respect, texting, street-speak... I'm sure there are more. To, two, too; your, you're, their, there, they're. I personally also often crash when I hear a wrong contraction like there's instead of there're.

A few of those at one time are surmountable, but too many make a message quite unintelligible. Certainly to most of us over, say 50, anyway.

To continue the with the mangling of languages: non ilegitemi carborundum.

Edit: Oh, it also isn't only musicians.

Dear Mr. Scott,

I have spent a good amount of time working in England at a time when every broken-down motorway in the country was under construction...lol

There have been cultural changes in the UK that most of us over fifty are not particularly enamored of. Even with the changes, it seems to me to be a bit more civilized than the United States. Being a Redneck farm kid from Texas everyone thinks I am Merle Haggard when I sing country in a bar in London. Pretty funny stuff.

There was a good bit of humor in your post that made me laugh. You know...lol

Speaking of humor, as I was walking by the tellly, I assume that is how you spell a British idiomatic expression, this was said.

"I am now going back to the dating pool and I am sure there is pee in it.

I have a really difficult time spelling in any dialect of English. I just tell everyone I am dyslectic. That is better than saying I am too dumb to learn how to spell.

I blame it on the French, which is a large part of the English language. Nonphonetic craziness.

How do you spell Mo in French? Mot? If the T is silent why use it? Meaux, really? Even the French don't get mad at me making fun of the illogic of their language.

At least when I ride my recumbent trike on the sidewalks around here most everyone is pretty friendly. I always address them first in Spanish. This is northern Cuba where I live.

The other day I met someone while riding and I said hello. He said no Spanish, OK, English? No, French,No, I speak Arabic but that did not work. Well, I can say hello in several other languages but I was a little mystified by his accent. He finally got across to me he was from a very remote part of Russia with a dialect that was pretty much incomprehensible to me.

Not much direct spoken conversation but we both knew how to talk with our hands. Fun stuff.

I have in mind to place another ad in Los Angles for a vocalist. I live in Miami but people in California think cocaine will make up for the three-hour time differences. So they are pretty talkative.

Thanks for your post, it was pretty funny and informative.

And for some of you, I apologize for the verbosity of my post. I just don't know how to do monosyllabic writing.

TTLY,AMOF,ATB,

Cheers, M8

Some of our strange spellings are down to trying to spell Anglo-Saxon words so that the Norman French could pronounce them properly. The Norman French were, of course, originally the Vikings and presumably their French was already weird by the standards of the day. The French, of course, also had several regional languages, too. They have several today ... Breton, Occitane, Basque.

I once had to communicate with someone in Portugal about a problem in a holiday let. He spoke Portuguese and another language I never quite worked out; I tried my limited French, Spanish, Italian, German and even more limited Portuguese. We managed somehow, though I don't too well remember how. Experimenting with words in several languages until we had some kind of a match, I think.

ATB.

Although it is becoming a bit less common, many if not most people in this country only speak English.

Of course, there is a lot of immigration so there are other languages spoken.

Being the center of the known universe, we have little reason to learn other languages. Even if we do decide to cross the pond we fully expect everyone to speak English and I don't mean the "Queen's English". American food and don't put me in one of those stupid little French cars...lol, The "ugly American" is not a myth. When I go to Europe I mostly speak French or Arabic at least in France where I have a house.

We are armed, dangerous, and unpredictable so better watch you P's and Q's...lol

Obviously, I am joking, but to some extent it is true.

We have killed everyone who got in our way since we got off the Mayflower. Just ask any American Indian or Mexican for that matter. There is racial discrimination every in the world but we WPAS are more guilty than most. OMG a Catholic president, what is the world coming to. Remember what happened to the last one. Pretty sad stuff when one thinks about it.

Excellent material for a song I think.

I got new musical toys to play with so catch you later. See you in the funny papers. Well if anyone has actually has seen a newspaper nowadays.

Cheers.

Billy

During the seventies I was in Taiwan. I came across two oriental gentlemen trying to converse. One was raised in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation. The other was raised in mainland China and spoke Mandarin. Both spoke a little pidgin English.

I translated both sides of the conversation into English understandable enough for both to understand. Fun stuff.

Slightly irritatingly for we English, most of the world really speaks American, which is a little different. :-)

One of the frustrations of being a native English speaker is that, despite my efforts to speak other languages, nearly everyone replies in English and often wants to practice their English. Most know we're English before we even speak. Sigh.

I once went to a concert by a pair of guys, one beat-boxing, the other playing Kora. They each had a tiny bit of French, but mostly their communication was music. Great little concert!

a muso mate of mine once said there are 2 important things in life.
1. bubble and squeak with a beer
2. a beautifull woman with bubble and squeak and a beer,
that asks you up the 'apples and pears'... a la the python milkman sketch.

lol
om

Well...I hope to get back to the Bells before I die. I got fifty quid in my desk draw burning a hole in the drawer.
Perhaps that will still get us a King Lear.

It would be great to meet in person.

Cheers,

Billy

The general dumbing down and laziness of people anymore. I have an Echo Dot JUST to turn lights on and off and tell me the weather every morning.

"Echo good morning" turns my bedroom table lamp on. "Echo good night" turns it off. Could I reach over and turn it off by hand? Yep!! Turning it on in the dark though, I'd likely knock it off trying to find it. Thus the Echo. Could I look outside and see the weather with my own eyes? Yep! Is it easier to just say "Echo weather"? Also "Yep".

I also have one in the living room to turn on the living room lights when I come home at night. I also have those lights on a time for when I am gone for days at a a time, and on a schedule where they turn off between time A and time B so they don't come on at exactly the same time every night. A lot of it is "Because we have the tech available for us."

I once, just to do it, spent an entire day doing "stuff" and did not utter as much as a syllable to another human. I got money from the ATM, then went to the Amazon locker and got a package out. Then I drove through a Sheetz gas station and ordered a sandwich through the drive through, where you pay by swiping you card, pull up to the window and get your order. Went to the library, got a book and checked it out through self service. Did the same at the grocery store.

To some that level of misanthropy is awful. To me it was heaven. With the internet and next day delivery we can literally function without ever leaving the house. In the early months of Covid, I made note my my mileage on May 1st and again on the 31st and I had driven 42 miles that month. I filled my tank on May 1st and on the 31st I had 10 gallons left in my 12 gallon tank.

So the answer really comes down to "because we can". I personally hate the phone because the phone is a singular activity. When you talk on the phone, you talk on the phone. If I am in a chat conversation on my computer, I can play backgammon, or read news, or pay bills, or even watch a game while I chat on another screen. Depending on your take, I am rather ADD and my mind wanders so I need many places to focus, or I have the mind of an artist that never turns off. I have heard both options used to describe me. In my mind I am simply someone who is deeply immersed in all this technology that I love so much. When most of us were born there weren't even TVs unless you were somewhat affluent. Now I watch TV while driving my car! My father, born in 1917, was born when there was not yet air travel or television. In 1969 he saw television transmitted from the moon. As I sit here, I am typing this pos on one screen, watching Monday Night Football on another with the sound off, and watching Hoarders on the 3rd.

Because we can.