Random deafness tidbit: TTY shorthand

Also, Internetspeak is actually normal politeness for TTY. ;)

For one thing, it's an even more realtime medium than IM. The text scrolls right on the little screen-strip as you type them. And you HAVE to take turns, and signal the end of each turn by entering "GA" (short for "Go Ahead") to tell the other person it's okay to start typing, because if you don't take turns, it becomes a jumble of both people's text. "SK", short for "Stop Keying", signals that the communication's ending. "GA to SK" is often used to signal that you're bringing the conversation to an end by your next message.

So, there's a lot of brisk and brief stuff like "thk u" and such. The funny thing is that I've been ingrained with it such that it seems like perfectly fine and polite stuff to do on the TTY, but grates terribly on me when I see it on the Internet. But then again, the TTY arguably needs those shorthands far more than most communication mediums on the Internet do. It's far more raw real-time. You HAVE to sit at the TTY watching it constantly because the previous text will quickly scroll off the limited-space screen. The traditional solution for this has been adding a printer into the TTY that prints out the conversation as it happens. Not all TTYs have this. In addition, you might be talking via relay with someone who's hearing, and typing's inherently slower than speaking.

Given all that, I instinctively tend toward longhand anyway. But it doesn't bother me to see shorthand on TTY.

For some reason, it bothers me to see it on the Internet. Different contexts, I suppose.

How Relay Services Work

Since Lakidaa asked me about this, here's how relay services work.

First, the TTY relay. First you hook up your TTY if it isn't already. You then dial the relay number. Right now, there's an easy-to-remember number of "711" one can use in the United States. Numbers're different elsewhere.

At the other end, the relay operate picks up your own call on their own TTY. You supply them with the number you ultimately want to call, and they call that number. They will basically interpret between the two: you type to them, they will speak your message word-for-word to the other party you're calling, and then the other party speaks back to them, and they will type that message to you.

Now for IP relays! They're basically the same except that you use either a web interface or an AIM bot that automatically hooks you up with your relay operator. I.e. you use a website or AIM itself for your typing portion rather than TTYs. They're popular with scammers due to anonymity, which leaves a stamp of dubiousness upon them with businesses, but they're quite handy. Just, sometimes one might have to get out ones TTY in order to make a relay call to a business!