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Does Prince get enough credit for popularizing what would become text speak? I know Prince wasn't the first but there weren't many using U for you and 2 for two until Prince started to popularize it. Does this generation even know that we used to live in a world where we had to boringly spell everything out? Then Prince came along and now everything is Us and 2s and 4s. Visionary. All good things they say never last... | |
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GottaLetitgo said: I know Prince wasn't the first but there weren't many using U for you and 2 for two until Prince started to popularize it. Does this generation even know that we used to live in a world where we had to boringly spell everything out? Then Prince came along and now everything is Us and 2s and 4s. Visionary. I'd maybe argue he was the first to use emoji. An eye ball for I. Surprise, surprise.
Another treat. Another trick. | |
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Exactly. I know Sly was using some different spellings and some other artists but Prince made his song titles creative. Not Sign of the Times but Sign "Peace Sign" the Times. I Would Die 4 U. U Got the Look. (Eye) Wish U Heaven. No one else was doing this. And it wasn't a gimmick, the man actually wrote this way. All good things they say never last... | |
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I'm working on a thesis on this actually. I'm a linguist and I postulate the Prince is a linguist as well with major contributions to written English at large. I wouldn't know where to post it though. My thread is titled Nerd Alert!...a few pages back No matter the Šī¸, Paisley Park "official can never âĸī¸  . He gave that to us verbally on Oprah in 1996. You can't take away from us, corporate. I mean O ( + > | |
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That is why Prince will last. There is so much about Prince that you have to break it into topics and subtopics and all of them have lots to explore. Did anyone ever ask Prince why he wrote like this, did he write like this in high school, elementary school? When did he decide and the cool thing is he never wavered, 30 years later he was still using 2 and 4 and U in songs. Prince as a linguist sounds like an interesting thesis. All good things they say never last... | |
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I think 'blame' might be a better word than 'credit'. |
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yes.. in an abstract manner | |
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I doubt anyone gets actual "credit" for text speak- its not as if it is copyrighted. He should get some attention- but I would say on a large scale, most people don't know enough about Prince's work and know a choice of 3-5 songs of his. "So shall it be written, so shall it be sung..."  | |
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GottaLetitgo said:
That is why Prince will last. There is so much about Prince that you have to break it into topics and subtopics and all of them have lots to explore. Did anyone ever ask Prince why he wrote like this, did he write like this in high school, elementary school? When did he decide and the cool thing is he never wavered, 30 years later he was still using 2 and 4 and U in songs. Prince as a linguist sounds like an interesting thesis. I think Prince's texting language developed from the use of pagers back in the 80s....that's how us old folks would flirt with each other using pagers.đ That Prince incorporated a lot of that in his songs/titles just made him more appealing. | |
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Good point about the pagers...life before texts. With Prince it was always like, this is how he does it and I don't know if anyone really questioned it. I will say that, now that I think about it, he didn't always use it as an artist...otherwise his first album would have been called 4U. All good things they say never last... | |
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just another way he is a leader, not a follower. "do i have a friend tonight?" --prince at his last concert in atlanta  "If u love somebody, your life won't be in vain
And there's always a rainbow, at the end of every rain."--peace and love, dear prince..... | |
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GottaLetitgo said:
Good point about the pagers...life before texts. With Prince it was always like, this is how he does it and I don't know if anyone really questioned it. I will say that, now that I think about it, he didn't always use it as an artist...otherwise his first album would have been called 4U. Prince incorporated a tremendous amount of early 80's culture into his music and his lifestyle. I was re-watching "Brewster's Millions" last night and realized that quite a bit of Prince's choices might have been influenced by this movie. (He was supposedly an avid movie fan -last movie he saw was Zootopia). The white Rolls Royce, the sunglasses/shades shape, PP decor and architectural pyramids (The Nile, Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt theme). Timeless decor - "a room you could die in" - so I now find solace in that he died where he wanted -at PP. I also think he (having grown up poor) was overwhelmed by his own wealth possibilities and recognized that people/women flocked to him because of yes talent but mainly his wealth. His continued use of "pager language" was a reminder to him and others that he still identified as Boack-American. For many of is back in the 80s and early 90s a pager was a loose symbol of "wealth". | |
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