OREM — Ben Cook has fast fingers.

In less than a minute, the 17-year-old whipped out a text message on his Cricket cell phone key pad that told me when he could respond to my text questions about beating the world record for text messaging on Tuesday.

"I have time during my lunch break, which is from 12:15 tn (sic) 12:55," Cook wrote in his message.

It was pretty impressive, though his punctuation and spelling was less than stellar. Of course, he was likely texting me during one of his Timpanogos High School classes, so I couldn't expect much.

Still, I pride myself on being a competent texter — a skill honed while texting messages to my husband and editors when meetings go late or get boring.

So I sent off my reply with some urgency, taking generous advantage of the predictive text function on my cell, which allows my phone to suggest possible words I might want to use after texting only two or three letters.

"Just send me a text when you're ready," I wrote back. "And let me know how you got so fast at texting."

When I say fast, I mean fast.

On Tuesday, Cook set a Guinness world record during a televised text-off by typing, "The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human."

Cook texted the 160-character message in a record-breaking 57.5 seconds. That's two seconds faster than his opponent and friend, Dave Stoddard, and nearly 10 seconds faster than Britain's James Trusler, who currently holds the Guinness record for typing the same words during a live TV show last year.

Whether Cook will replace Trusler remains uncertain, though Cricket Communications, which sponsored the text-off, said it plans to send Guinness a videotape of the competition along with affidavits from witnesses and contest officials.

"I've been texting off and on for about a year," Cook texted me once his lunch break started. "Dave (has been texting) for several years. Dave got me into the competition."

"I like (texting) cause you have more time to think about what to say, whereas on the phone you just say what come to mind first," Stoddard later added in his own text message. "And U can't talk on the phone in church, school, class, meetings or anywhere else it would be inappropriate to do so, so texting let's U talk discretely."

After receiving Cook's message, I tried to send off a reply. But somehow I managed to delete it. Time was ticking, so I rewrote a shortened version. Within seconds, Cook texted me his response.

"As far as breaking the record goes, I'm really excited and I can't wait for the results from Guinness to come back," Cook's message read.

Then, only a minute or so later, he sent me more information about how he sharpened his texting skills.

"I would practice by timing myself and eventually I got better," he wrote. "I never thought it possible to break the record until about a month ago."

After that fast response, I was ready to throw in the towel.

Cook had clearly blasted me with his speedy texting skills. But I didn't want to give up without a fight.

So I timed myself typing Cook's winning message. It took me 182 seconds.

"You're too fast," I typed in my final text message to Cook. "I give up."

---

E-mail: lwarner@desnews.com