“Deeply regret Brinkley Court hundred miles from London, as unable hit you with a brick.”–telegram to Bertie Wooster, in P.G. Wodehouse’s Right Ho, Jeeves.

Actor Ralph Fiennes laments that language is “being eroded”, a phenomenon which he attributes partly to Twitter STOP

I’ve said I think Twitter like “Newspeak” in 1984 STOP I stand by that STOP However, I think Twitter is effect, not cause STOP If people now talked as in past, Twitter wouldn’t exist STOP Wouldn’t occur to anyone to make it STOP Language skills had already “eroded” before it STOP

Posted Wodehouse quote for two reasons STOP First I think truncation necessitated by telegram format makes for funny line but also reminder this not new phenomenon STOP Though no hard-and-fast limit on telegrams, they encouraged brevity at expense of grammar STOP

(Explanation here.)