The more I interact via social media, the less I like the constraints to communication implicit in emoticons and thumbspeak (my term for the ubiquitous acronyms in text messages).

It is always easier to criticize than create, so today, I have dedicated a bit of time to add to the thumbspeak dictionary: CTM (i.e. chuckle to myself). Maybe I’m just not the kind of guy who laughs out loud at so many of the humorous offerings on the internet. But I do find them funny. Chuckling to myself, inaudible to anyone else, is my usual reaction.

I made a visual aid to help explain what I mean. For me, this visual aid is a CTM moment. Watching Mel Brooks’ early films make me lol.