As part of the struggle of kids gaining independence from their parents, they always turned to special languages to communicate with their friends. I know I drove my parents crazy speaking Pig Latin with the kids in my neighborhood. Ancay ouyay eakspay igpay atinlay? (It’s much easier to read, than it was to translate as four young boys exchanged words in front of a confused adult.) The next "language" that became popular was Bop, which was developed by the inhabitants of the Boppanese Peninsula. Odop ouyop igdop opbop? I can’t believe I could actually understand someone talking to me like that, but kids are adaptable.

Today’s youth have been raised on video games, computers and cell phones. They have electrons and cyber-bytes running through their veins. As a result they have turned to a whole new way of communicating. I was at a public swimming pool recently, where two young teenage girls were sitting in front of me having an animated conversation about, what else, boys. "Ohmygod, Ryan is like so totally awesome." "Yea, but I think his friend Justin is like so not good-looking. And he dances like a slug." Realizing that I was in earshot, the girls abruptly ceased their conversation and rushed to their cell phones. Instead of talking, they each started feverishly keying the buttons on their phone with their thumb, while holding the phone in the same hand. They could thumb type faster than I can with two hands. Then they would read a message as it scrolled on the tiny phone screen, and start keying again. I learned from my nine-year old grandson that they were text messaging. This text message communication took five times longer then talking or leaving a voicemail and it costs much more than voice communication. But so what? It was something that their parents were not doing, and they wouldn’t understand the messages, even if they tried.

I then called my teenage granddaughter, Briana and had lunch with her at the mall (where else) to learn about text messaging and chat talk. I asked her to send me a couple of emails in her new text message language. When my wife Sara read the first one she said, "Aren’t these kids learning anything in school these days? Her grammar and spelling are atrocious."

Well, it sure beats Pig Latin.

Mike Sisti is a forty-year veteran in the marketing communications field. Most recently he served as Chief Communications Officer at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. Mike and his wife Sara divide their time between Narragansett, Rhode Island and Sarasota, Florida.