Get Him To Call

Note for the folks at home: Due to the way English is pronounced in Kenya, mobile phone text messages among Kenyans are populated by a unique brand of shorthand. For instance: "are" = "a", "your" = "ua", "nice time" = "nyc tym". "For", "to", and "too" are all given their numerical equivalents, and, as per the particular grammatical tradition of Kiswahili, subjects are dropped ("Am cming 2 town"). Despite this seemingly informal nature, text messages are still held to the same standards of politeness as person-to-person communication: greetings ("gd mrning", "hw r u?") are always required, and formal titles ("mr principal") should be recognized.