In Defense of Saying “BRB” Out Loud
In my youth, I was a prescriptivist. I thought correcting someone else’s speech was doing them a favor. I heard people say, “Where are you?” into the phone and muttered, “This is“ Where are you? »» I was technically right and I honestly thought this was the best way. When I finally got my mobile phone, I realized that “Where are you?” sounds too aggressive, and the softening effect of “Where am I?” more important than grammar.
So when people complain that they hear the phrase “brb” out loud, I give them the advantage of doubt. I know they haven’t thought it through because they say, “The same number of syllables!” Like Plato, they believe in the superiority of some ideal form, but refuse to test their theory in the real world. They didn’t bother to just say “be back soon” and “brb” out loud, in a noisy room, as quickly as possible.
Because once you do that, the superiority of brb will become apparent. In a practical sense, these are not three syllables, as it can be muttered up to two syllables “beer bee”, which sounds like a quick version of “be back soon” anyway, with three consonants instead of five. It fixes a gap in the English language, which has one word for “I leave and do not return,” but not one word for “I inevitably return.”
The difference comes down to the weight of a syllable , the difference between the number of sounds in a syllable. I asked linguist John McWorth, host of the Slate Lexicon Valley podcast, to explain syllable weights better than Wikipedia. He said:
The full expression [“be back soon”] has two-syllable endings with consonants. Brb has only one, while r is more liquid. Consequently, “brb” is a little lighter, but the reason for using it is novelty, not a tiny difference in weight.
The first part of McWorth’s answer is cold science, but the second part is frankly speculation, and that’s not true because I’m using “brb” to mean a tiny difference in weight, that’s all.
The only remaining criticism is that “internet speech” should not seep into “real life,” which is just an excuse to control the behavior of others, just like old ladies invented “ban white after Labor Day.” , to freeze the modern. rich.
So feel free to get creative with your speech. Try words in a new context. Borrow from the Internet. The language develops, and there is no reward for catching up last.
But “GTG” is not needed by anyone. This is ridiculous.