So, what’s the prblm?
Nothing that a few ‘e’s wouldn’t help. On Monday asset managers Standard Life Aberdeen triggered a wave of mockery when it announced that its new brand name was Abrdn. Some described this move as a “misjudgement of historic proportions”, others pointed out that they couldn’t help reading it as “A Burden”.
Abrdn? Srsly?
Ys. Oops, yes.
This whole e-dropping thing isn’t new, is it?
Not at all. In fact, that’s part of the problem with it. Back in 2004, flickr, who couldn’t obtain the domain name for flicker, launched themselves without an e and a whole string of other trendy tech brands followed: Tumblr, Grindr, Pixlr, Readr. “Being ‘e’ free distinguishes you from the run-of-the-mill, vowel-infested world,” said Esther Dyson, an investor in flickr. A 2015 article in Thought Matter, urged, “Go on, stand out from the crowd, drop an ‘e’. But only until it becomes the norm.”
One would think that the time when it would help a brand stand out was well passed. For quite some time the loss of the has been normlisd. In fact, not only is losing a few ‘e’s way behind the time, so is even the partial or full ‘disemvowelment’ of words, as in the podcast Srsly, the online quiz tool qzzr or design agency UNBXD. Partly what’s making Abrdn stand out is that it seems like a mainstream company jumping on a trend long after it has been dead.
And getting rid of the ‘e’ hasn’t just been a digital era thing, either?
No, it has history. Whole books, let alone brand names, have managed without it – for instance lipogramatic Georges Perec novel, La Disparition, for instance and the 1939 novel Gadsby by Ernest Vincent Wright (authors who nowadays might well have renamed themselves Gorgs Prc and Rnst Vincnt Wright).
I mean, do we even need ‘e’s? Or indeed any vowels? In a fast world, don’t they just slow things down and take up space in a post or tweet?
Well, actually dropping them out slows things down more, rather than speeds things up. We stop, for a moment, and look hard at the unfamiliar Abrdn, wonder as many have done how to pronounce it, and then possibly remember it well – even whilst finding it acutely annoying at the same time.
Is it too late to save the ‘e’?
No, it’s been way too common for too long – it can take a bit of a popularity dive. It’s not leaving the language yet.
And aren’t these letter droppings and text abbreviations causing havoc with our kids’ spelling?
Apparently not. Research has found that children who regularly use the abbreviated language of text messages are actually improving their ability to spell correctly. Who needs actual hmwrk, when you’ve got a phone and a few apps?
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel