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.

You have managed to get through quite a few posts without using txt spk, so I'm really not sure what the issue is here?

You seem to be arguing for the sake of it.

If you'd put in your op that you had become addicted to typing in txt, and sorry but we'll all have to put up with it, then fair enough...but you type really well so what's the problem?

PSC I don't use textspeak on here so it's not an issue. The gripe I have is people assuming that people who use it are stupid which seems to be the main reason people dislike it as far as I can see from this thread.
I'm not sure how screen readers work but what would it make of acronyms and other things that are for some reason seen as OK and people who are just poor spellers?

Mrs C are the posts about people using textspeak being thick and it having no place amongst educated MNers tongue-in-cheek? Because they didn't come across that way to me.

Maybe I am being optimistic (I am a text speak hater but make no real assumptions about the user apart from the fact that their language irritates me!) but I genuinely thought/think most were tongue in cheek in the main. Or at least exagerrated for effect.

MMM surely it's more about your audience?

like the poster who got a job application form in txtspk?

We're not bebo, or twitter (valid point about character limitation)...

The whole of this forum is in intelligible English (in the main ) so why would a person write on here in textspeak?

I'm dyslexic and I struggle with text speak. I probably wouldn't realise if someones grammer or punctuation was wrong and when someone makes the odd spelling mistake. I can't manage certain typefaces and text/background colours either.

Going out of your way to make things more difficult for people seems a bit mean to me. Especially when someone says they don't understand and they are told they don't need to understand because they are an old pedantic dinosaur so they are irrelevent to the conversation. Its a bit like deliberately turning your head away when speaking to a lip reader.

Agree with you though about correcting other's spelling and grammar... I wouldn't do that ever, even if it really got on my nerves.... have to correct my own often enough

OK I see this a spin off from the thread where op was being asked not to use text speak.

I will repeat. If like me you are dylexic it is very difficult to distinguish the text when it is written without punctuation or not written in the correct form.

This is because looking at a computer screen or any printed text it is like looking at black lines and its the corrrect shape and formation that gives that text some shape and therefore some meaning.

eg i c u r cuming l8r has no shape and no beginning or end whereas I see you are coming later. has a beginning with a capital letter and different shapes.

I do not expect people to understand but what I personally feel is if you are posing a question on mumsnet then presumably you want input from everyone and therefore the question should be accessible for everyone including dyslexics and those that use compuetr reading programmes.

I understand very little text speak ,but as i send about 3 texts a month and usually of the long winded plain english variety i dont honestly care . Used in any context other than a text ,it just seems a bit lazy .

"Have you got nothing better to focus on.? "

I think trying to highlight the ridiculous hypocrisies of someone who votes for that foul "party" the BNP is quite a worthwhile thing to focus on.

I don't think it is about bringing up politics but about challenging racism.

Oy, Rollmops - if you want people to stick to topics precisely on MN, you'd better get busy. There are threads being derailed everywhere.

Anyway - as I said - contractions in written language, for reasons of time, space and cost are nothing new. Languages evolve much like biological entities - there has to be benefit to the new form/meaning that outweighs the cost. Outside of the contexts from which textspeak evolved, there is little to be gained from changes to orthography, and probably a lot to be lost in terms of clarity and precision, so it seems unlikely (and the historical record would seem to support this) that text forms of spelling will become the norm.

In other words, mmm, I think your understanding of linguistic evolution is flawed.

BS;

You are bringing up issues that have nothing to do with this thread, & that isn't fair to MMM or to anyone else posting on here.

You clearly have a personal issue with me, but bringing up my political leanings at every opportunity makes you look like someone who is just after a fight.

I'm not falling into that trap anymore.

have a nice day..

L8rs..x x

PS; Not everyone posting on MN lives in the UK, maybe you're not aware of that.?

Actually yes, after I posted my reply just now it did dawn on me that overseas posters use MN, so apologies for my skewing your views on your original post.

I don't have issues with you personally, DP, I am sure you are a nice person. The "political party" of which you are a member, however IS foul and IMO needs to be challenged at every opportunity. But as I said above I misjudged this one and should have left it.

SeaTrek - "I am sure I read the words February and environment many hundreds of times and I still didn't notice..."

The brain compensates and corrects typos, but in any case, if one has a mental block about some word, it will always be assumed to be correct, unless, as you have indicated, someone points it out.

Spell checkers may help for some types of error, but not all. A lot more processing would be needed to determine a 'valid' (spelling-wise) word was incorrect where it had been used.

PorphyrophillicPixie - being nosy, where did the "Porphyrophillic" bit originate ?

In my case it's an elder sister (by 10 years) who spent ~20 as a school head, who slings in txtspk shorthand, when there's no reason to need it, apart from laziness.

Just marked several hundred GCSE papers many of which were almost impossible to grade on 'spelling punctuation and grammar,including sentence structure'.Why?Because candidates thought that text speak aka gobbledegook was an appropriate medium in which to express their views on poetry and to write a formal letter.Presumably their parents think thats acceptable.The exam boards do not.

ccpccp - I wouldn't go quite so far as moron, but (my sister included) it makes me lose some respect for the author.

Even though I never went on to take 'A' levels at school, going straight to college in 1975, I regard my knowledge of English to be moderate, and in almost any contact, would expect a certain standard to be achieved.

The other day, I used the online 'chat' facility to discuss a matter with BT:

Paul: as i say i cannot do this, however, Is there anything else I can help you with today?
ME: While you are unable to do this, will it be escalated, or should I just
make my complaint direct to the Chairman's Office now ?
Paul: i will escalate to my manager yes and you will get a call back in the next 24-48 hours.

A tiny extract, but when I read back through my copy of the 'chat', I was very unimpressed by the punctuation and use/lack of capital letters.

Habbibu - but what about fashion? It seems to be the language of choice for young people even still now with qwerty iphones etc. If it continues to be used at such a widespread level surely some words will worm their way into standard English?

Of course, 48 hours (and the rest!) have passed now. I did get the name of his manager, however, so I'm debating whether to give her 24 more hours or just "go to the top" if there's no attempt at contact before 11:00.

I hate text speak (why txtspk btw, it only takes a second to press the E and the A)

The problem is not when it is used in a text, but that it is bleeding out into other areas.

I truly do not understand it, and it takes me longer to work out what the person is meaning than it would have taken that person to write in normal English.

If a poster uses too much text speak then I am likely to disregard that post. Which is a shame, perhaps she had something insightful to say.

"surely some words will worm their way into standard English?"

... by that time, with luck, I will have passed my 'sell by' date and won't care, except for my niece and nephews and their children, living in a society that seems only to go from bad to worse.

(When I was younger, dropping litter would get a sharp rebuke, but these days, one doesn't know if a 4 foot nothing "thug" is carrying a knife or gun, so it is rather more dangerous to try to encourage "standards" to be kept.)

Some (not txtspk) words from the internet have crept into daily use of English, where "Googling" may be used for "searching", and "log on" is used in some instances where "visit" would be more appropriate. One only needs to log on with a username/password or e-mail/password on a fraction of the world's web sites, where individual users are either having to pay a fee for access, or where trust in "keeping to the rules" is expected, and revoking access is the first (or only) sanction which can be applied.

Unfortunately, if txtspk is the "norm" for younger people, on mobile phones, FaceBook and other sites, their 'blogs' and via any instant messenger facilities, then spelling ability could be degraded, and job prospects (for quite a number of years, while management or HR have mature staff) will be lower.

I think the impression of being unable to string a grammatical sentence together will do no good for those who regularly use txtspk, and yes, "thick" might be a bit blunt, but might be the impression some get.

I know I would not consider someone who put any txtspk on a job application or covering letter, because they may slip into it when dealing with a customer and lose business.

Some words, possibly, but unlikely to be very many, given that formal registers take a lot longer to change, and languages don't tend to adopt things which reduce communicative clarity unless there's a larger benefit. Outside of "texting" and twitter-type contexts, I don't really see any. It's like people predicting the demise of the apostrophe - that's been talked about for a very long time, and hasn't happened.

See also what I said above - in the middle ages, contractions were teh norm in all types of written language, and yet had almost no impact on the actual spelling of the language - e.g. the ampersand is still not standard English, though a symbol for "and" has been available for hundreds of years.

MmeL - I write txtspk to show how pathetic such words are, a means of emphasis without saying a string of words (including pointless, incomprehensible, ambiguous, etc).

whay shinyand new said

And whilst i wouldnt sau anything to someone who could really be vulnerable using textspeak as it could be the last straw and mean, I would also have to walk away and not offer advice or support as I have poor eyesight and can't make textspeak out at all.And yes I know its all moved on but anyway thought i'd add to it all.

MrsC - at 29, you're a very young dinosaur, believe me. I had been away studying and was working before you were born!