Rant Text Speak Rant

If you need to shorten your text message to fit in one message then you should be phoning them.

 

wtf iz thiz crap thredz abot?

plz.

 

The main time that I'm sending long texts is when I'm unable to phone such as when I get a free moment at work or at school. The length of the messages is not generally saying that much it's more that due to not using text speak.

 

Text speak is more for speeding up the sending of texts than for shortening messages. At least that's why I used to use it. I tend to use predictive text now though, although I do still add some of the more useful "text speak" terms to the dictionary.

I'd say get over it to be honest, its just the evolution of language, no worse than standard abbreviations. You're showing your age

 

Text speak is no more a language than stenography is. Can you speak it?

 

I would agree with that except there is still exceptions such as I am really slow at texts while using the text speak. Im much faster using the qwerty keyboard of my Vario 3 than any of my other phones.

 

You don't have to be able to speak a language. There is such a thing as written language.

 

Chill out, text speak has a purpose (either making texts cost less, which is fair enough, or speeding up the process) so why does it matter? Yes it's a terrible habit in formal situations, but as long as people recognise that difference who cares.

 

It seems most people in this thread think text speak is fine for mobile phone communications for a variety of reasons. Fair enough. But I wonder if the relative anonymity of the web encourages people to be less concerned about their image and the quality of their communications?

 

In my opinion "txt speek" is an outdated form of writing. Back when a SMS message cost a fortune it was nice to be able to fit it into 160 characters (And most phones wasn't able to combine messages that were longer than that.). Today, however, SMSs are cheap, and most phones can handle more characters, so there is no use of "txt speek". It's OK to use abbreviations like "LOL", "BTW", "WTF" and so on as long as you know the recipients know what they stand for.

Using it for an entire message is simply unacceptable.

I tend to be a grammar Nazi when it come to dividing words (Orddeling in Norwegian). I remember a poster I saw a while back that says "Fri syre for alle" (Free acid for everybody) while it SHOULD be "Frisyre for alle" (Haircuts for everybody). There are worryingly many people that get this wrong. While it's normally not a big problem, sometimes the sentences can get an entire different meaning.

Unfortunately I tend to combine words in English in the same fashion ...

Some people seems to use "LOL" to end sentences. These people tend to end up on my ignore list very quickly for that reason alone.

 

Probably. I know when I am talking to my girlfriend on AIM she and i are always striving for the "perfect grammar". Not only has it helped our typing a bit. but also helped us in school since we had gotten used to chat/text acronyms. Overall i prefer using the correct grammar when i can and only when my cell phone is about to die will i use text speak. The only couple things i will do though is leave the I's non capitalized and use a lol here and there. However, things like "ttyl" and "bbiab" I will always type out instead of using the acronym.

 

Don't know why people need to use text language? In NZ You can actually use 'txt' language, as long as its understandable, and its not an English exam! I can push out around 2000 'txt's' a month, maybe more, without using 'txt' language. so don't know why people use it? they're probably noobs!

 

Perhaps because they can fit those 2000 texts into 1000 when they use text speak, thus saving them some cash if they go on pay as you go or only have a monthly tariff that includes 1000 texts ;___;

 

Reading is huge, but there's a huge problem with the way it's approached in modern education. I started reading for entertainment at a very young age, so the reading I was assigned in school never really shaped my view of reading. I have many friends, however, who never did any reading outside of school. As a result, their exposure was almost entirely books like Crime and Punishment and The Scarlet Letter. Fantastic; they've now skimmed through two books and hated them so much that they will never read again. If the schools would lighten up about the 'classics' and start handing out copies of Harry Potter, we'd get students interested in reading. They'd enjoy it, and would continue to read on their own free time. Personally, I think a lifetime of reading is more useful than two old books.

 

Indeed.. I never pick up a good novel anymore and if you see me reading it's probably a book on technical crap like manufacturing techniques and project management. Yawn. I think it's helpful to mention that I'm only 20!

 

That is obviously a large part of the problem (that fewer and fewer people tend to read books anymore).
Another thing that bugs me about all this is that just about 90% of the population have no inhibitions about declaring themselves to be dyslexic ,and thus liberating themselves from any and all obligations to try and improve their own abilities. Are we heading towards a society where mediocrity can be excused (yes, even seemingly celebrated) by shrugging it off with a (very likely) nonsensical comment about dyslexia. I know it is a real condition, but I do not for one second believe that upwards of 70-80% of the population is suffering from it. And another thing is that these people seem to think it's perfectly fine to use this as an excuse both to write like a drunk and slightly epileptic chimpanzee on speed, and not try to improve their own skills. Well, maybe its me, but I simply cannot understand this mentality. Should we not all strive to "be all that we can be"? To become as good as we can, in any discipline we express ourselves in?

Don't get me wrong. I know I do not write perfectly, I know my grammar is not spot on (at least not always) and I know my spelling does need some work here and there - but I try, and I always aim to improve myself.

Similar to Smilodon I too have a nice example of spelling mistakes made very public (it even hit the papers).
There were a small convenience store that wanted to advertise some of their stock, so they put out a poster in front of the store that said; Vi har pissa i fryseren (We have pi**ed in the freezer). Now, what the sign should have said is; Vi har pizza i fryseren (which obviously means we have pizza in the freezer). Fantastic!

Well, my rant must come to an end I think.

 

The only books I had read up until recently have been books that I had to read as a school assignment. I seriously hated books after that.

The only reason why I started reading books is that I wanted to know why the thingy at the local buss company's website answered "42" to "What's the meaning of life?"... Investigating further and reading a few quotes from Hitchhikers got me interested again, and I figured I'd give it a shot.

I find that online newspapers have LOTS of errors in their texts and especially bad formulated headlines. I wonder if they even proof read it at all...

 

I use Text language but the thing in this Generation is there's a line between socially, Or when ur talking to friends, and professionally Would you text your boss "imma be late 2 day?" you boss will be what the hell? I'm no sure if there's anyone going to agree with me i'm only 16 and I type normal when i'm e-mailing my teacher, my family, bit-tech but when i'm talking to my friends i'll type in text language but will NEVER say text language out loud like "hold on BRB"

 

One sad thing is I know a few people who actually say "LOL" or "L, O, L" in real life...

 

I think there are a few circumstances where txt spk is acceptable for example expressing your amusement with a LOL or a Llama Mayo but not much beyond that.
My grammar is not perfect, I wish it were, but I do usually try and I think achieve some success.
One thing that I have noticed recently is that since the age of about 13 my spelling and general vocabulary has got worse. I have had to work harder at school and have spent more time on a computer so have had less time to read. This has made noticeable changes, especially having to think about how to spell success or definitely.