To Sense: just a few pennies

See? Why didn't I think of this: Study finds Instant Messaging is surprisingly formal :-). I've always thought that IM seems like a strangely poetic form of casual conversation--concise, generally to the point, but with some panache.

And the article even addresses the issue of multi-tasking while IMing. My Dad can never quite understand why it takes several minutes to get a response in a conversation that he is intently focussed on, while my sister is doing her homework in the background... generational thing, for sure...