[Ads-l] Query from New York Times on "Sounds good."

Joel Berson berson at ATT.NET
Sat Dec 10 15:09:03 UTC 2016


Sounds like [sic] a subject for a "Zits" strip, with Jeremy unable to detach himself from his smart phone while doing something that feels or tastes *good*, or smells *so*  ... (for the last, choose among his feet, closet, or room).


Joel

      From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
 Sent: Friday, December 9, 2016 8:06 PM
 Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Query from New York Times on "Sounds good."
   


One additional factor: the smart phone.  If you begin your message with the word “Sounds” (which the phone will helpfully upper-case for you), the Three Suggestions (at least on the iPhone 5s) will include “good” as the second word.  The same is true, unsurprisingly, for messages beginning with subjectless “Looks”, and also for those with “Tastes”, and “Feels”, although not “Smells”, for which the suggestions are “so”, “like”, and “of”.  This is a bit puzzling to me, since I can easily imagine writing “Looks good” if someone sends me a photo or “Sounds good” in many messaging contexts (it is, after all, my son’s default text message, in its entirety), but it’s harder to imagine circumstances in which I’d be sending a message that begins “Feels good” or “Tastes good”, although I concede I’m not in the habit of texting in the middle of activities that would elicit such a comment.  

LH

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