Typing Shortcuts Leading to the Destruction of the English Language?

Thursday, July 13th, 2006 at 9:25 AM | Category: Meryl's Notes Blog 2 comments

Pocket PC Thoughts rants about the destruction of the English language leading to a lengthy discussion in its forums. Though I’m a grammar geek, I use typing shortcuts when chatting online or on my Sidekick II. Here are a few I frequently use other than the common shortcuts:

wud = would
cuz = because
iunno = I don’t know (thanks to daughter)
tmw = tomorrow

Thanks to instant messaging, email, and MySpace, kids are reading and writing more. OK, so it’s not perfect English… but every bit counts. When kids do homework and school work, they’re expected to use the right spelling. So I don’t think we have to worry too much unless kids’ teachers let them get away with ‘im,’ ‘kno,’ ‘skewl,’ ‘plz,’ and so on.

What matters is the time and place for writing instant messagese. If you’re writing a business email or having a class discussion in a forum, obviously you should use proper English. If you’re emailing a friend or chatting, then anything goes.

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2 comments

  • Posted by Chris Casciano on July 13th, 2006, 9:55 AM

    local tv news station just did a highly “informative” piece on leetspeak for those parents who want to understand what it is they’re seeing when they’re checking up on their kids online… ists a real, um, winner

    http://wcbstv.com/seenon/local_story_192151516.html

  • Posted by H.A. Page on July 13th, 2006, 10:02 PM

    I’ve looked at this subject a lot as a Media Studies grad student and I think we’re seeing a trend back to fluid spelling a la Benjamin Franklin — the times when getting the message/s out seemed more important than the mundane rules surrounding the transmission of the ideas.

    Beta? Not even in websters!!!
    It’s all i-centric short cuts.

    c u later. MotherPie Cheers.

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