No one seems to have emerged as the arbiter of politeness in the internet world. When I was growing up we had Ann Landers, and Dear Abby but in the modern age, no one seems to have risen to that level. Rather like a loaf of bread left to rise without a form. You end up with a pile of dough on your countertop that you cant do anything with. Not to worry, eventually it will harden, and with the addition of a few bottlecap imprints and a small US flag you and your five year old can make that lunar landscape that will capture gold at the science fair. But I digress, as usual.
I was really about to make a point and it is this: It’s not OK to use “ok” in your correspondence as a stand-alone sentence. It is in fact, insulting to whomever you are attempting to communicate with. And yes, this is where I wish we had a Dear Abby to scold the offenders and codify this into the rule book of etiquette.
For many of us, in our work-a-day worlds, we have a couple of choices for communicating with our co-workers. We can send them an email, we can drop by their cubical, we can call them on their iphone or Blackberry, or (drumroll please) we can send them an instant message. IM’ing has become such a favored method for communicating in the modern work-a-day world that their are commercial instant messaging applications a’plenty. They sit charmingly on your desktop at work and play a lovely musical chime when someone wants to chat you up. Bllllliiiiiiiinnnnng! There, wasn’t that charming?
Yea. Charming.
Now I realize that the form of communication in the information age is changing. I recognize that we are awash in a world of tweets, but there is a difference. Tweeting is serial communication. It is a composite, in real time of life as it happens in 32 bit segments. I’m OK with that, because no one ever simply tweets “OK”, and leaves it there to stare at you. Not so in the workplace.
Let me give you an example: The other day/week/month I was IM’ing with a colleague and providing a progress update on a project. Back and forth the dialogue went, an even exchange for the most part and an effective and efficient way to conversate (yes, I just used the word conversate he he he) and then it happened. I concluded my half of the conversation with “well, that about sums it up” and then, what glared back at me from the cold little white box in the corporate instant messenger was just two letters. An “O” and a “K”. Could anything have been more non-committal? Could anything be more ineffectual?
Ladies and Gentlemen, “OK” is NOT the worlds shortest stand alone sentence. It is, in truth when used that way terribly insulting to the reader who has just crafted a sentence for you using a subject and a predicate. It is not OK. It is disturbing and you who use it, should cease and desist, and yes this includes my boss. If you need a single word to use in your IM’ing that will indicate your general and singular detachment and lack of caring about anything (much less a fellow human being) try, using “hmmmmm”, or if you can stand to type more than two lousy letters, perhaps you can manage an: “Alright” or a “Thanks”, but keep your stand alone OK to yourself.
I’m sure there are other bloggers who have written about this poison pill of a pseudo-word both in and out of this context and I suspect my lone voice will die off as you walk down the corridor to your next mind numbing meeting, but I hope that the message will persist with a few of my faithful readers. Remember, when you IM there is a live human on the other end. OK?