to say, once again, the past tense of " to text" is " texted "

[HanneHolm]

god not " he text me"

you sound like you is forrin

It's not so new. I remember texting in the mid to late 90s

Heartbroken. We are as one. It's thick and common.

looks around

;)

Hanne

We are Borg

And yes, language tends to standardise to its form in use, but new verb coinages, especially from Latinate roots, tend to be regular. In this case the literate use is the standard -ed form which would be the only possible form in written English (take a look at the way it's used in print media, for example). A non-standard use that is different from the formal register will tend to stay marked as a colloquial or less literate variant (compare the vernacular use of "ax" for "ask" in the US - it might be an informal usage but the Wall Street Journal certainly doesn't use it and it remains negatively socially marked for various reasons).

I do not believe I have ever held a conversation with anyone who'd say 'text'.

I love (and totally agree with) OP heartbroken and georgette. I'm surprised at how many normally intelligent people use this lazy word!

I've just re-read my post - I meant 'text' makes you sound like a thick teenager!

I thought the rest didn't make sense

God forbid someone sound forrin,and not all middle class mumsnet
I'm not English so I'm not bound by such ridiculous sensibilities
sounding forrin is quite appealing actually

This reminds me of having shared a railway carriage with a young couple who repeatedly asked their beribboned offspring if she was 'going nasticks.' On the tenth iteration I deduced that the child was 'going to gymnastics.'

As with 'text', they sounded thick as mince and twice and common.

And she was wearing Uggs.

Yes, I'm a crashing snob. But I.know how to speak

Twice as common

Serves me right for being a cow.

Everyone I know ever says texted. And haitch

Moondog Americans have always said it that way.

Like how they could care less

I'm not middle class! I had the most working class upbringing possible. We were seriously poor. My Dad grew up in the slums.

But my parents (and me) love to read and worked hard at school. Speaking properly has very little to do class.

I say haitch, and I'm forrin, I don't have an accent though. And I don't have an opinion about text/texted

hear hear scottishmummy.

Fragglerock. They knew how to speak too. They were using the language of their social group. You can't police how people speak. There are certain rules that apply if you're writing- although only in certain formal contexts, such as a newspaper article or academic essay. If you're just talking to people, you can use language however you damn well like and as long as you can make yourself understood then no-one can tell you you're wrong to do so. Not the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary, not professors of linguistics and English language, no-one- (in fact, they'd probably find it fascinating)

Apart from the class police of mumsnet, it seems.

I despise this insufferable superiority that is so prevalent on mumsnet. God forbid someone should think you're working class. It's just the worst kind of Hyacinth Bucket type social climbing nonsense.

wafts pomander

Bollocks to the conflation of not speaking properly/common = working class. I bloody hate that.

I am working class. My family has been working class generations back. I still bloody know how to speak!

Judging someone for sounding forrin,has everything to do with class,and bad manners
The obvious inference is forrin isn't appropriate.middle class harrumphing at its worst
One of better manners,would be able to accommodate linguistic nuance and accent

I sleek clearly, loadly and slowly so that English people can understand me. It works all the time

Speak,

Shame I can't text how I speak :)

In our area the plural of texts is texties. As in, "I get ten thousand texties free in my new bundle".
Argh.

And yes OP you are correct.

I say text and will continue to do so.

Only here do I read about such issues.

It's text. I can't bring myself to say/or type texted.

The lady who does the tannoy announcements in my local Tesco for the mobile phone section keeps saying "200 free texes" instead of texts. It's al I can do to stop myself going over there and correcting her. I probably should actually because she's making herself sound like a moron.

It makes me cross