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

[Randy Alexander]

Gmail (well, Google Inbox) has these lovely automatic responses that pop up
that you can choose from. I just had my son send me an email that said
"Let's meet on the 28th." The three automatic response choices were:
"Sounds good.", "Sounds good. See you then.", and "What time?".

On Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 23:09 Joel Berson <berson at att.net> wrote:

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Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET>
Subject:      Re: Query from New York Times on "Sounds good."
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Sounds like [sic] a subject for a "Zits" strip, with Jeremy unable to detac=
h himself from his smart phone while doing something that feels or tastes *=
good*, or smells *so*=C2=A0 ... (for the last, choose among his feet, close=
t, or room).


Joel

      From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=20
 Sent: Friday, December 9, 2016 8:06 PM
 Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Query from New York Times on "Sounds good."
  =20


One additional factor: the smart phone.=C2=A0 If you begin your message wit=
h the word =E2=80=9CSounds=E2=80=9D (which the phone will helpfully upper-c=
ase for you), the Three Suggestions (at least on the iPhone 5s) will includ=
e =E2=80=9Cgood=E2=80=9D as the second word.=C2=A0 The same is true, unsurp=
risingly, for messages beginning with subjectless =E2=80=9CLooks=E2=80=9D, =
and also for those with =E2=80=9CTastes=E2=80=9D, and =E2=80=9CFeels=E2=80=
=9D, although not =E2=80=9CSmells=E2=80=9D, for which the suggestions are =
=E2=80=9Cso=E2=80=9D, =E2=80=9Clike=E2=80=9D, and =E2=80=9Cof=E2=80=9D.=C2=
=A0 This is a bit puzzling to me, since I can easily imagine writing =E2=80=
=9CLooks good=E2=80=9D if someone sends me a photo or =E2=80=9CSounds good=
=E2=80=9D in many messaging contexts (it is, after all, my son=E2=80=99s de=
fault text message, in its entirety), but it=E2=80=99s harder to imagine ci=
rcumstances in which I=E2=80=99d be sending a message that begins =E2=80=9C=
Feels good=E2=80=9D or =E2=80=9CTastes good=E2=80=9D, although I concede I=
=E2=80=99m not in the habit of texting in the middle of activities that wou=
ld elicit such a comment.=C2=A0=20

LH

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