Surreal Language

Getting ready for dinner, I'm struck at how strange consonantal languages are. I mean really, reading without vowels?

I've heard it argued that language is a code, a deliberate tool to share knowledge within your social group and keep it from being understood by outsiders. I don't know if I go this far, but stuff like this doesn't help.

I guess I'm ok with it - after all, I've been known to txt occasionally, but would I want everything I read to work that way?

It just seems weird.