What's "ga" stand for in a chat?

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: "Rob Perkins" <rob_perkins at hotmail.com>
Date: 25 Sep 2000 10:15:45 -0700
Lines: 51

"JBONETATI" <jbonetati at aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000924140758.26692.00001145 at ng-ch1.aol.com...
>
> <<What's "ga" stand for in a chat?>>
>
> Some chats use 'protocol' to aid the Moderator.  This is generally used,
for

Oh, fer cryin' out loud. It means "go ahead", or, in ameteur radio parlance,
"over", indicating permission for the parties in your conversation to begin
typing, because you're done.

The great-grand-mommy of Internet Chat is the Telecommunications Device for
the Deaf. TDD. Shame on you if you thought it was AOL People Connection, or
any early version of IRC.

Back in the late-70's these devices lacked more than a 40-column LED screen
(sometimes a 20-column screen!), where the input and output was shared
equally with both users in a typed conversation. In the 60's and 70's, they
consisted of scrolling paper, something like a DECWriter, for anyone who
remembers back that far. Printers used to be absolutely the only way to
communcate with a computer.

Anyway, different abbreviations for communicating over the devices were
developed, AND published and agreed to by the people who used them.

It was a shortcut. The Braille letters for "sh", "ou", and "th" and so forth
are no different; they helped the physically handicapped keep up with *us*
by using shortcuts we un-physically-handicapped didn't think of.

You have to picture something like this scrolling across one line, like the
scrolling stock marquee on Times Square:

hi john ga hi joe ga whats up ga not much you? ga going to see empire
strikes back its got subtitles in english want to come? ga sure what time ga
i dunno how about the 330 show downtown ga ok sounds good meet me at the
theatre ga ok see you there ga bye now ga bye

Now, when BBS systems were new, and chatting began to be, the obvious (and
really only) nomenclature to draw from was the TDD nomenclature. BBS sysops
would publish it as a help to newbies on the board. Thus "ga" found its way
into BBS chats.

JMS was surely around and using computers and BBS's during that time, and
may even have made use of TDD's to talk to friends etc. He's a smart guy for
using such an obviously cool and politically correct shortcut in a chatroom.
:-D

Rob



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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 25 Sep 2000 21:37:09 -0700
Lines: 19

>JMS was surely around and using computers and BBS's during that time, and
>may even have made use of TDD's to talk to friends etc. He's a smart guy for
>using such an obviously cool and politically correct shortcut in a chatroom.

I've been online since 1984, 16 years now, logging in at 300bps on a Kaypro II.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
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SFX Magazine)




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