to be appalled at the increase of text speak on Mumsnet?

[AnUnnamedSource]

There seems to be a lot more "ur", "lols", "u" etc than usual.

Am I being unreasonable and old or is it annoying others?

Text speak is something you just grow so used to. I find when im on fb/twitter I use it but I would never use it in an email or on a forum.

Often though, I dont even realise I'm doing it lol ;)

I've just spent five minutes looking for threads with titles in txt spk. I can't find any. Is there a section I'm missing?

I contribute to other forums where some of the members are from overseas and have English as a second language. Textspeak is not considered good netiquette, as it is difficult to understand if English isn't your first language. Writing in upper case, not using punctuation and writing reams and reams of text without paragraph breaks is also considered bad form.

I have spent years proofreading and am probably a little too over critical of seeing badly written text, and I accept that. I know that not everyone can spell, but posting in textspeak is downright lazy.

I like to be able to read something without stopping to work out what it means.

At the very least, use of the deplorable "LOL" should be banned from AIBU.

I hate textspeak. I am guilty of occasionally using it in a text message on my mobile phone but I won't use it on here.

I have occasionally used cos instead of because on here but I can't bring myself to even write 'nite' instead of 'night' and never have been able to (can't bear it!)
so I am aware that I am slightly hypocritical (?inconsistent) about it but a post full of text speak is just too painful to read and I can't be bothered most of the time.

manatee, there was a truly hideous one yesterday bang smack in the middle of active, with lots of 'ur's.

can't tell you what the title or subject even was, all i can see is the 'ur' taunting me...

i am guilty of the occasional lol though. but only on here, never actually texting...

I don't mind the odd LOL, OMG etc but do object when the whole sentence/post is in text speak or has lots of dumb spelling errors. My mum (71) uses text speak, in texts, but makes up her own abbreviations so sometimes I have to phone her to find out what she was on about :)

If there's one item of "txtspk" that really winds me up, it's "ur"!! FFS, the standard contraction for 'your' is 'yr', not 'ur'. It's been 'yr' for ages. People have signed telegrams "Yrs" (when they had to pay per letter) for as long as they existed. Why change it now?? (Yes I do know that 'u' is the contraction for 'you' but it still doesn't make sense to me).

insomnia, that's very funny - it reminds me of little children learning to use makaton. they always get to the point that they make up their own signs. it's like trying to read scribble!

I really hate text speak. Half the time I can't understand what's being said.

It is annoying and unnecessary.

Part of the beauty of this site is the fact that the majority of poster use standard English to convey their thoughts. If I see a badly punctuated textspeak jumble as an opening post, I refuse to read it. I have in the past asked people to translate.

I don't understand how people get on their high horse about LOL, OMG etc but use DD, DH, PITA, PFB, IPOAT and all the other Mumsnet specific abbreviations I was like "WTF" :) about when I joined here.

I use language appropriate to the situation, medium and audience. I don't see anything wrong with LOL, OMG, ROFL, WTF because I can write well and formally also, in fact I am a particularly skilled letter writer I would say, and I feel a bit sorry for people who don't know how to write correctly or how to use language appropriately. I tend to write text out in full with the odd abbreviation though because my phone has a qwerty keypad and my texts are practically unlimited under my contract.

acronyms are fine.

Nah ur alrite hun,I'll b washing my hair!lol!enjoy ur 1st day bak x- This is a pain in the ass

hope evies ok hun u aving a rite old time of it late sending big huggs ure way xx this is even worse.

The above 2 examples are friends of mine on FB, posting from a computer, NOT a phone, so there is no excuse.

"I can send really long message on my phone now so no point making it illegible."

But not all phones can receive long texts. My phone cuts long messages off and all I get is "some text missing"

"It also makes you look a bit fick init. I too can't take a post written in text speak seriously."

I agree.

People who use textspeak on an online forum do look thick.

I think they're bloody rude as well.

And, what is the reason for leaving the "g" off "ing"? I loathe text speak.

Thinking about this thread in the car earlier, I might have a good analogy that explains why textspeak is so annoying.

It's like when you are the sober one in a room full of obnoxious drunks. You can understand some of the words, but they are annoying to listen to because they're slurring and not really making sense. Eventually you just tune out their mad rambling and look for someone less drunk to talk to.

I don't even like it in text messages, though I admit that IABU about that one. There's no excuse on the internet though.

When I see txtspk and hideous mutations of words such as 'gawjuss' on Facebook I have to REALLY REALLY force my brain away from thinking 'Christ, what a wanker!' to 'actually that's my godson and he's really quite nice'

I think people who use it should be aware of the effect it may have on others for their own good. They WILL be judged

Acronyms for commonly used phrases, i.e. AIBU, IKWYM, AFAIK, LOL even, don't bother me.

Text speaks makes me twitch. I also can't take someone very seriously who intentionally uses it.

Wiv? Wiv. Wiv makes me want to throw puppies out of the window.

Wasn't text speak invented before phones had predictive text?
Never use it. Another one here who puts apostrophes in my texts.
I never post when the opening poster has used text speak or LOL.
I hate, hate, hate LOL.

Poor puppies!

I like Yank'n'cock's analogy, it sounds reasonable.

I've noticed it too. We seem to have a plethora of 'text types' lately.

And they always seem to have the most 'Jeremy Kyle' type problems. I think the two are related!

A correlation between low intelligence and poor literacy? Who'd have thought it

Depends, I dislike lmao, lol, etc, but a lot of abbreviations are really handy (DH, DD, MIL, etc). I remember reading the diaries of Winston Churchill, and there were a lot of abbreviations he used.