Obby Dobby Is In Danger

I sent invitations to everybody in my mother’s address book.  The invitations were for an event called "Edith At Eighty", my mother's eightieth birthday pary.

I was delighted that Mr. & Mrs. Kirmser were coming.  They were our neighbors back when I was a teenager, and their son was a friend of mine.  I had spent a lot of time hanging out at the Kirmsers’ house.

On the day of the eightieth birthday party, the guests greeted me as they arrived.  Mr. Kirmser stood in front of me, with a look of concentration in his face, and said, “Hobow obare yobou tobodobay?”

I was at a loss for words, it sounded like Mr. Kirmser had had a stroke.  He repeated, again with great concentration, ““Hobow obare yobou tobodobay?”  I did not know what to say to him.

Then he broke into English, and said, “When my son heard I was coming to this party, he taught me to say that.”

Of course!  Mr. Kirmser had not had a stroke, he was greeting me in Obby Dobby, a language that his son and I were fluent in, back in our teenage years.

Obby Dobby was a secret language, spoken by putting an “ob” in each syllable.  If the syllable starts with consonants, the ob goes after the consonants; if the syllable starts with a vowel, it goes before the vowel.  How are you today? becomes Hobow obare yobou tobodobay?

Pig Latin is another secret language.  As well as Measurray, a language promoted by a New York disk jockey named Murray The K.  In Mesaurray, the phrase How are you today? becomes Heasow easare yeasou teasoday?  This language seems to have died out when Murray The K went off the air.

The value of these secret languages is that you can talk to someone in the presence of a third person who does not know the language and you can say anything you want.  The languages are also intellectual exercises, and fun.

Recently I was at a dinner and someone their made a joke about seeing four teenagers at a table in a restaurant.  All four of the teenagers were texting on their cellphones.  The assumption was that they were texting each other rather than talking to each other.

Then it hit me.  Texting enables you to talk to someone in the presence of a third person, and you can say anything you want.  Texting has its own way of abbreviating syntax and phrases; so, it is an intellectual exercise.  And must be fun because teenagers do it all the time.

Now Obby Dobby is in danger of dying out.  So is Pig Latin.  These languages are endangered in our electronic age.  Who needs a secret language when you can text?   

Now I worry about who’s going to buy all those t-shirts that say “IGPAY ATINLAY AMPIONCHAY.”

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NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com