to think that people who complain about textspeak are

[milliemoosmum]

pompous, pedantic, dinosaurs who cannot accept that the English language constantly changes.

And as for people who pretend they don't know what it says when they clearly do....don't get me started.

Anyone who corrects anyone's spelling, punctuation or grammar or complains about textspeak (unless correcting someone who corrects others to point out that they are not perfect) just makes themselves look like a massive arse.

Discuss.

I do understand textspeak though fortunately it's not something I come across that often. It just seems so ridiculous and infantile to me, that's all.

I agree with what you said about picking up on others grammar and spelling on an internet forum though, especially when it's usually obvious that they're probably typos!

You don't have to learn it but if a lot of people use it then you have to accept you're not gonna be able to read those posts. Not that they would have anything interesting to say anyway with them all being thickos so I suppose it's no great loss.
It's definitely an elitist thing - standard English is for clever people who are actually to clever to read textspeak. Total snobbery.

It's nothing to do with snobbery - it's to do with communication.

it's the same as: mumbling, whispering, grunting....people can't can't understand you.

When I see people out of their teens using it often I do think it looks totally ridiculous.

It's the literary equivalent of swigging cider in the park with your mates. Most of us did it because we thought it made us look cool at the time, but grew out of it because we realised it was well..immature.

Stephen Fry might be all for it; maybe he thinks t makes him sound pretty cool? I can't stand him though and 'pompous, pedantic, dinosaur' sums him up quite nicely

Did you want to know if you were being unreasonable or not then? Or did you just want to force your opinions on anyone who doesn't agree with you and call them snobs?

Nope, it hurts my eyes to have to read such literal crap. I also get the urge to speak very slowly and loudly and use very simple words the next time I see the moron who used txtspk.
I, of course, am as smug and judgemental as they come...

I don't care one way or another, because I just skip the post if it is full of text speak/lack of sentences or paragraphs.

I easier than giving a fuck.

But text speak isn't a language? It is a shortened form of one that was 'created' to use in text messages due to the character limit. So if I received a text message using text speak (I wouldn't, none of my friends use it) I wouldn't object necessarily...but it is different in other fora surely? (Regardless of the fact the character limitation issue no longer really exists.) I think I associate it with teens, not grown adults.

it's the same as: mumbling, whispering, grunting....people can't can't understand you.

Do you assume that people who mumble are thick then?

I've been on Mumsnet for a while and am fully aware that the vast majority of people on here would disagree with me as people imply that posters are thick because of how they type all the time. I just posted here to see if there were any like-minded people who share my views on this - and I'm pleasantly surprised that there's one or two.

textspeak is fine in text messages, but there it should stay.

I dont use txt spk

BUT I bloody hate when it when someone posts and their grammer is not great and they use text speak, and they get laid into

mean, mean, mean

Well it wasn't really an AIBU question then was it, if you were just looking for 'like minded' people? Not sure what the point was really.

Look through aibu - 99% of them aren't aibu questions.

It is, essentially, a shorthand, and so value judgements as to intelligence really don't apply. It's a code that most people who use it can switch to and from with ease. I don't like it, personally, but that doesn't make Me right and everyone who uses it wrong, any more than someone else's choice in shoes. It's context-dependent, and this is what's most interesting about the discussion here - on most forums (and yes, I meant to type forums) it's common usage, and therefore appropriate to context. MN is unusual in that there is frequent insistence to adherence to standard English.

The Ye thing isn't really shorthand - Y is a hangover from an Anglo-Saxon/Norse letter called thorn, which looks a bit like a Y with the loop closed, or a funny-shaped p in lower case - can't get the ascii code to work here.

I really don't think textspeak will have a fundamental impact on the majority of English spellings, however - it introduces far too much ambiguity and reduces clarity over larger pieces of text.

porca that's exactly what I mean - I very much doubt these people would call anyone stupid in real life and if they did they would be an arse so why any different on here?

Yes, Milliemoo..., you finally 'got it' - clever people do not use text speak, dim people do.
Naturally it follows that clever people are elitist and therefore, must be burned at once!
Down with the literary snobs!
I am ever so proud of you, dear!

Forgot to finish - thorn represented the "th" sound in words like thigh and thorn - there was another letter, called "eth", which represented the "th" sound in, say, "another".

there is an unspoken snobbery on MN
hence the shit kicking......

Rollmops - pmsl lol etc

I disagree, some aren't obviously, but I don't see the point in them either. Bit like textspeak.

Rollmops, you'll overuse your ! quota soon. That's more of a bugbear for me than textspeak.

there is an unspoken snobbery on MN

Absolutely - there are a lot of things I love about Mumsnet like the directness and the fact that a lot of people who post on here share my sense of humour. The snobbery is annoying though.

I take exception to being called a snob. In fact I shall get my butler to kick the stable hand round our courtyard in order to make me feel better. He uses textspeak anyway so he deserves it.

Isawthreeships.

listen, my spelling is crap it really is, (as proved by my spelling of grammar, and I wasn't being ironic) and as for my punctuation, well, I gave up on that years ago. I think that's where all my little dots came into play, I was never really sure what to do so I just did this.....

I would never pull anyone up on their spelling or punctuation errors, (dispite my spelling being terrible, I often notice mistakes in other posts...but I take the view that the poster could be dyslexic, partially sighted, English not their first language, breastfeeding while posting, etc) so it's a little insensitive to point these errors out imo.

However, text spk is a different matter. It's a blatant disregard for the English language and is a step back. I hate it when I see signs spelt incorrectly ie; "nite" that really annoys me, because it's just so "common"...I can't explain it any better than that.

I can't stop you using txt spk on Mumsnet, it's not something you can be banned for (and I'd know if it was) ....but have some respect for your fellow posters. The vast majority of people on MN are highly intelligent and don't like it.

So when in Rome and all that ..

Habbibu - you're not my husband by any chance are you? He hates these !!!!!!!!!! too. They call them dogs dicks in his line of work.