Rant Text Speak Rant

Evolution of language my arse. Txt speak is no such thing, it is a shortcut for peope who are too lazy or stupid to read and write correctly.

 

You do realise that what i have quoted here, is not what would be considered "correct" use of english? Or do you make the rules?

Anyone that gets irritated from the odd lol or brb is simply anal retentive, imo anyway.

 

An interesting question. With English, who has, historically, made the rules? Short answer is, nobody with authority. In France they form a government committee, in the UK and USA we have the lone self-proclaimed pundit who writes a textbook. If the book becomes popular, it sets the de facto standards, despite often propounding illogical or pointless rules (see split infinitive, ending a sentence on a preposition, et al).

"Correct" English is clear, free from ambiguity, and appropriate to the audience. Attempts to define it more rigidly have always failed to last the course of time. See Crystal, The Stories of English.

The problem today is, a high percentage of the population may have learned to read and write but the intelligence level hasn't gone up so they write shite.

 

I'm fine with evolution of language, but text speak has no rules, at all, the words can mean virtually anything. That is why I don't accept text speak.

 

In my opinion, it depends on context. Texting a close friend to let them know you'll see them in 5 minutes really doesn't warrant full structure and embellished language - if you're pressed for time, I wouldn't worry over every last apostrophe and capitalisation. However, it really annoys me when you see people using "Text Speak" and other ridiculous contractions on our language in other situations.

For instance, the number of people I know who can type like the wind, yet still insist on starting MSN messenger conversations with "lo m8, how r u!". It's simply laziness.

The other problem with the fact this style of writing is getting used elsewhere is it is having an effect on our education system. My mother works in a local school - and it's now getting to the point where it's a common thing to find exam papers with answers like:

"U can c the difference between the paintings is..."

"the element can b found in..."

And my personal favourite:

"The lyrics of the music make you lol when you listen to them"


The other one that's winding me up at the moment is the fact that so many people are starting to use American spellings for things in Britain. Just because Microsoft Word is telling you it should be spelt "Authorize", "Infeasible" or "Color" doesn't mean it's correct in British english. We're starting to lose some of our lexical and etymological heritage through internationalisation of software, films, TV, technology, etc.



Still tho, wot can u do about it m8? Just chill yea.

 

I have to admit I use text speak every now and then... only when I'm in a hurry.
But I think things are really going wrong once you HEAR someone SAYING "ROFL" or "LOL" or "WTF"! I'm sorry but...
using too many smilies is not possible / a crime though

 

I find I can type a text message faster with full words, sentences, and correct punctuation, then someone using that predictive text and using shortened words. That and I can make more sense when writing.

To me, using a language properly, especially considering English is not my primary language, is much more important than saving a few seconds. Remember a few years ago when texting/cell phones weren't "mainstream"? How on earth did we ever go without texting people.. Heh.

I happily correct any of my friends who try to shorten words, use improper grammar, or incorrect spelling

 

Than someone, pal.

 

I have problems with then/than, I admit

 

Although i think there's nothing wrong with the odd txt speak, it's definitely wrong when someone actually talks in "txt speak" That's going way over the line, and they should be slapped immediately for doing so, well again, jmo anyway. Wait a minute.... or maybe we all just have our own thresholds for txt speak

I'd probably say more than 10 smilies per post is too many. Do any forums have a smillie limit per post? Or per page?

And Cpemma, correct use of english is basically correct use of grammar. Being clear, specific & appropriate are just attributes of efficient use of english.

 

Text speak in MSN/IM conversations piss me off. There isn't a character limit, so why the hell do you need to use it? It makes the resulting mess a lot harder to understand.

 

There is a character limit in MSN Messenger actually.

 

lol. omg

joking aside. txtspeak should be outlawed on every forum...

 

Never reached it tbh, but you're probably right. However, unlike texts, you can continue on with a second message without incurring additional cost. Which is my point - what reason would you chose to write in text speak in an IM chat?

 

The same reason you have (or have not) to use it on a forum. Laziness?

 

Oh I hate it, although I do use wtf and brb and lol. But thats about it. I refuse to send text messages because I find text messages pointless, I can say more in less time typing by speaking to the person. If I must sent a text I write properly.

Its worse when people at work use it in e-mails and mainly because they dont realise they are doing it either due to the fact that they no longer know how to spell. What I find odd, is that some text speak words are sometimes longer than the real word or one letter wrong. What is the point in that?

 

While it's good that you're drawing a boundary and only using text language with friends, you're missing some of the point. Your post is by far the most difficult one in this thread to read and understand, because we're forced to think and translate from incoherent slang with no punctuation to proper English. Native English-speakers can handle it fairly well, because although text speak isn't standardized, we can see where the slang comes from. These forums, however, have many members with native languages other than English, and I doubt they can read English-based text speak at all. If you want to be taken seriously, even in an informal setting like Bit-Tech, you'll have to use a real language.

 

Personally I find Nexxo's love for, and tendency to use, "big language" quite refreshing despite the fact that English is not my native language.
And I would have to agree with crazybob in his conclusion. Understanding slangs and/or text speak is, for me at least, not really a problem in itself. However, the effort needed to translate it might be beyond the level I'm willing to commit to for a certain post (for instance) on the forums I frequent. That said I must also add that the worst, by far, is posts containing 10-20 sentences with no punctuation, no capital letters to start off each individual sentence combined with slang and text speak. I tend to just skip these posts altogether (most of the time I skip the posts written in text speak as well). It's a shame, really, as these people might surely have something interesting to say, or a problem I might be able to help out with. But surely the effort to type "you" instead of "u" will not burn off too many calories? Surely the extra letters needed to write "mate" instead of "m8" will not render the typist a catatonic wreck? And I'm quite sure that the effort of typing "for" instead of "4" will not necessitate CPR as a result.