De-humanizing with peeps?

  Peeps. That’s the shortened word for people. Are we dehumanizing our friends here using the word “peeps”? Isn’t that the word that was used to describe what the little chicks say when they are born and learning to walk around the farmyard? Or the word for the ubiquitous yellow candies we buy at Easter that are pretty much indestructible these days?  When you meet them in person, do they look like a peep? They might be a pip in personality! But a peep? Are peeps truly that different from our in person friends? Does everything have to be abbreviated? Do we really need to distinguish a difference between our online friends and in person friends? And does it change our perception of our friends in the internet web world every so slightly? When does a friend become a peep or vice versa? read...