Interpret the Tweet: Austin Freeman

by Jeff Green's Dad on Dec 9, 2009 3:26 PM EST Comment 36 comments

I'm 23 years old. By any measurement, that is young. Yet, I feel about 100 years old when it comes to Twitter. I don't get it at all. Do you text it? How do you RT at someone? When someone else tweets, do you get a text? If you have 1,000,000 followers, do you get a text tweet every time they respond to you? I have so many questions, yet so few answers. One time I was shopping for laptops with my mom, before she fully grasped the internet. As we looked at the first laptop, she asked the Best Buy dude, "does this one have Gmail?" He politely responded that it did. Then she asked the same question for the next laptop. And so on. That's how I feel about Twitter. I just don't get it.

This is all a long winded explanation for me trying to interpret a recent tweet by Austin Freeman:

"Ok so I get a call this morning.......we goin to the airport......this person ask ya on the plane flyin yet......I GUESS SO BROTHER!!! SMH"

There are 5 parts to this tweet, so nicely punctuated with Austin's mega-elipses and exclamation points.

Part 1: "Ok so I get a call this morning"

Got it, he got a call this morning. Moving on.

Part 2: " We goin to the airport"

The team is headed to the airport. I comprehend.

Part 3: "This person ask ya on the plane flyin yet"

The caller asked Austin if the team is on the plane yet.

Part 4: "I GUESS SO BROTHER!!!"
This is where he loses me. Are they on the plane yet? I thought they were going to the airport. It leaves me with one of three possibilities:

1. The Hoyas are on the plane, but Austin can tweet on it. Plane technology is improving. But if that were the case, why would he say he was going to the airport when he received the call?

2. He is not on the plane and he is mocking the caller for thinking he is. Clearly, if he picked up the phone, he can't be on the plane.

3. The Hoyas are flying a private plane, so they don't have to go through security. Because of this, he can take the call, get out of the car, and be on the plane in one fell swoop.

Before I saw Greg Monroe saying they could tweet from the plane, I honestly thought #3 was the viable option. Yet, it's clear #1 is what actually occurred. It still begs the question why Austin would say that he was going to the airport when he was on the plane.

Part 5: "SMH"

I went to urban dictionary to find the meaning. SMH is defined as Shaking My Head. Austin seems to be in a whimsical mood about his ability to tweet on a plane.

Twitter, 140 characters or less and 30 minutes of my life I will never get back.

We may not agree with anything you say, but we will fight to the death for your right to say it.

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fun read

I was sure, when i saw the title of this post, that it would be about a different tweet. Freeman has tweeted “40 minutes of hell” before each Hoyas game.

Thoughts?

by aja32 on Dec 9, 2009 3:33 PM EST reply actions

I haven't decided

It could either be that he hates basketball, or he is alluding to Nolan Richardson’s Arkansas teams in the mid 90s, known for their defensive prowess.

I’m hoping it’s the latter

It's not you, it's me.

by Jeff Green's Dad on Dec 9, 2009 3:37 PM EST up reply actions

oh cool

never heard of that.

via Wikipedia: "His teams typically played an up tempo game with intense pressure defense – a style that was known as “40 Minutes of Hell.”’

I like it.

by aja32 on Dec 9, 2009 3:53 PM EST up reply actions

It's 40 minutes of hell

Because it’s 40 minutes that Austin is away from the buffet. I kid I kid, great game last night Austin.

by James Kannengieser on Dec 9, 2009 3:44 PM EST up reply actions

boo

by aja32 on Dec 9, 2009 3:54 PM EST up reply actions

I think

It’s number 2. Maybe he was tweeting from the plane, but Still think he was mocking the caller.

"It was almost like if Harry didn't call it, it wasn't real." - Jayson Stark
SB Nation

by Chris Haines on Dec 9, 2009 3:33 PM EST reply actions

Monroe

Casually tweeting from the plane: im on a plane!!! yes im tweetin from the plane!!!! this is the greatest plane eva!!!

Sounds like another internet phenomenon.

Documented

by itsallthatmatters on Dec 9, 2009 3:38 PM EST reply actions

SMH

When I read “SMH” I thought Austin meant “SHM”. Like shm, you know when you shm at something, or shm something? Right? Is this thing on?

Good talk.

by Hire Esherick on Dec 9, 2009 3:50 PM EST reply actions

You Idiots.

What Austin is saying is that if he was on the plane he wouldn’t have been able to answer the damn phone. It’s sarcastic. And he is shaking his head in response to this person’s stupid answer. Of course, Austin didn’t know he would be on a plane with Internet access (per Greg’s tweet). Which has led me to conclude that at this exact moment Your Georgetown University Hoyas are somewhere over Nebraska.

(Of course, if you look at this link later, the plane will be in a different place.)

by lordnick on Dec 9, 2009 3:55 PM EST reply actions

BUT...

Why did he choose to capitalize the ‘GUESS SO BROTHER!!!’ part?

This, to me, is the most interesting aspect of the tweet.

Casually.

by CasualHoya on Dec 9, 2009 4:03 PM EST reply actions

Do you not know how people talk?

When you say something stupid, like, “it is a good idea to hang out at Sign of the Whale until Camelot opens,” the way to write down my response would be in ALL CAPS, thusly: "GREAT IDEA, BROTHER!!!

by lordnick on Dec 9, 2009 4:06 PM EST up reply actions

but it was a great idea, brother

no better way to prepare for the camelot experience than to hang out with a lot of old dudes.

Good talk.

by Hire Esherick on Dec 9, 2009 4:11 PM EST up reply actions

SMH BULLSHIT

if he had gotten rid of the mega elipses and extraneous exclamation points, he would have had enough characters remaining to spell out Shaking My Head instead of the abbreviation SMH.

egregious

Good talk.

by Hire Esherick on Dec 9, 2009 4:10 PM EST reply actions

!!!

But why 3 exclamation marks? Does 1 or 2 not get the true sense of excitement across?

Note that both Freeman and Monroe prefer 3 exclamation marks…Is this in homage to JT3?

To me, this is the most interesting aspect of the tweet.

Casually.

by CasualHoya on Dec 9, 2009 4:10 PM EST reply actions

i thought GUESS SO BROTHER was the most interesting aspect of the tweet?

Good talk.

by Hire Esherick on Dec 9, 2009 4:12 PM EST up reply actions

"this person ask ya on the plane flyin yet"

let’s deconstruct:

‘this person’ – the person (calling Austin)
‘ask ya’ – asked me
‘on the plane flyin yet’ – are you on the plane and is it flying yet

question: why does he tweet ask ‘ya’ and not ask ‘me’?

to me, this is the most interesting aspect of the tweet.

Casually.

by CasualHoya on Dec 9, 2009 4:21 PM EST reply actions

I think ya refers to

you, as in "this person asks, “you on the plane yet”"?

It's not you, it's me.

by Jeff Green's Dad on Dec 9, 2009 4:33 PM EST up reply actions

“Ok so I get a call this morning…….we goin to the airport……this person ask ya on the plane flyin yet……I GUESS SO BROTHER!!! SMH”
Translation:
Ok so i got a call this morning while we were going to the airport. The person on the phone asked me “Are you on the plane flying yet?” I sarcastically replied “I GUESS SO BROTHER.” Because if we really were on the plane flying already I would not have been able to pick up the phone. I am now shaking my head at my friends stupidity.

It’s really not that hard.

by hoyasincebirth on Dec 9, 2009 4:52 PM EST reply actions

Question

Would you say you are SMH at us now?

It's not you, it's me.

by Jeff Green's Dad on Dec 9, 2009 4:58 PM EST up reply actions

but he is able to use his phone on the plane!

who is SMH now Austin?

Good talk.

by Hire Esherick on Dec 9, 2009 5:29 PM EST up reply actions

Thanks...

for clarifying that. I mean, if you weren’t here this thread might’ve gone on for 3-4 comments. That would have made me a more productive employee. I could have marked 3 more things of today’s task list. Instead, I get to learn important things like hire esherick’s definition of a leisurely Sunday afternoon!

I bet you are loads of fun to hang out with. I can picture you ranting and raving about mixing vodka (downer) with redbull (upper) and how that isn’t recommended.

Why don’t you just go on back over to the other board where you and the other know-it-all, fun police types can address important topics like the color of Benimon’s socks and whether jet lag will have an impact on the team.

Blip

by JahidiLikesPie on Dec 10, 2009 12:34 PM EST up reply actions

christ that makes me feel old

I literally had no idea what freeman meant when I read that tweet. Of course I have probably sent less than 10 text messages in my life.

by bunk moreland on Dec 11, 2009 11:32 AM EST up reply actions

This really is

The best comment thread on Casual Hoya yet

"It was almost like if Harry didn't call it, it wasn't real." - Jayson Stark
SB Nation

by Chris Haines on Dec 9, 2009 7:56 PM EST reply actions

You can use your smart phone to access the internet on a plane and tweet, I assume snce you can use laptops. But I don’t think you can take and place calls( well it’s probably not a can’t but a you’re not allowed to)

by hoyasincebirth on Dec 9, 2009 9:05 PM EST reply actions

why dont you like fun?

Good talk.

by Hire Esherick on Dec 9, 2009 9:09 PM EST up reply actions

Nice "Sample"

Who does that to a corporate logo? Comcast blows.

by lordnick on Dec 9, 2009 9:22 PM EST up reply actions

My roommate may have solved it

From my roommate, who is too cool for an SB Nation account.

“Ok so I get a call this morning…….we goin to the airport……this person ask ya on the plane flyin yet……I GUESS SO BROTHER!!! SMH”

What happens is his friend asks “you on the plane yet” after Austin already said we are going to the airport (referring to the LA airport)… Austin then proceeds to use all caps to say “i guess so brother” in a sarcastic manner. He then shakes his head

It's not you, it's me.

by Jeff Green's Dad on Dec 10, 2009 9:14 AM EST reply actions

thank you for bringing this topic up

i was going to send in a question for the weekly q&a for someone to please help me dechiper the tweets from IAMFREE15 and moosejuice10. I look forward to reading them for some reason, but usually have no idea what they mean.

on that note anyone know why greg uses moosejuice as his twitter name?

by iheartgregmonroe on Dec 10, 2009 9:46 AM EST reply actions

His nickname is moose

Not sure why, considering he is pretty skinny.

It's not you, it's me.

by Jeff Green's Dad on Dec 10, 2009 9:47 AM EST up reply actions

What does ftw mean?

I don’t know either Greg.

by iheartgregmonroe on Dec 10, 2009 9:48 AM EST reply actions

2 meanings

Either For The Win or F*ck The World

It's not you, it's me.

by Jeff Green's Dad on Dec 10, 2009 9:51 AM EST up reply actions

or

what the f*ck and monroe is dyslexic

Good talk.

by Hire Esherick on Dec 10, 2009 9:56 AM EST up reply actions

20 hours ago

No one has posted a tweet since they arrived in LA. Hello, what are you guys doing now?? I hope they’re not at In-n-Out burger debating whether it’s better or worse than 5 guys. In case you are, make sure to have a milkshake!

by iheartgregmonroe on Dec 10, 2009 3:29 PM EST reply actions

I pray

Austin doesn’t tweet something about In-n-Out

It's not you, it's me.

by Jeff Green's Dad on Dec 10, 2009 3:53 PM EST up reply actions

Tweets

While Austin’s tweets are quite hilarious (i.e. “Henry Sims is scared of roller coasters”) I must say that Julian “the Doctor” Vaughn’s current facebook profile picture on a roller-coaster with Chris, Jason and Austin is the funniest thing I have seen in a while.

by TheDoctorIsIn on Dec 12, 2009 1:21 AM EST reply actions