To hate when people use "text" instead of "texted"?

[WhitePhantom]

It just really bugs me.

"I text my friend yesterday" - no, you TEXTED your friend yesterday!

That's all. Rant over.

Thanks Disney. (It's hard to extrapolate from a sample of two. )

Who told you though deb?

(It's hard to extrapolate from a sample of two.)

@mardybra
I was having a chat with a know it all person who decided to correct my usage of the word ''texted ".

They're wrong! Check out any dictionary - www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/text and scroll down for 'texted'.

I always thought people who wrote text as the past tense of texted had just forgotten to add the -ed in some kind of autocorrect mishap.
Saying "I text him" sound weird to me like you are stuck in some kind of present tense novel. "I text him. I text him straight away. He reads my text. He laughs."

MardyBra I'm 18 and I would ALWAYS say "texted", so not necessarily an age thing.

Saying "I text him" sound weird to me like you are stuck in some kind of present tense novel. "I text him. I text him straight away. He reads my text. He laughs."

Heh. Reading that I realised that it sounds to my ears as if it's being said by someone with English as a shaky second language. In my head, the accent is Russian.

My educational background and age are similar to MardyBra's, and I'd always say 'texted'. My slightly younger sister is a 'text' woman, however, and my 20-year-old DS (studying English language & literature) goes for 'texted'. DH gets around the problem by refusing to send or read text messages at all.

The other thing is using text for both the past and present is confusing! Is this something you are doing now or have you already done it? Why use a deliberately ambiguous word when you could use one which gives you more information? I can't think of any other verb where the present tense is the same as the past although no doubt someone will think of some!

Annoyingly, I can think of a few (eg put, set, bet) , but there's still no reason why 'text' should be irregular.

OP i so agree

its VERY naff and uneducated

Texted will be victorious because it's correct. Text isn't. That is all. Thankfully we haven't yet become so namby pamby and dumbed down in the use of our language that we get to pick and apply rules we have randomly made up.

I do think it's only on MN (like the chicken that lasts a fortnight) where people think and say 'text' as a past tense. I've never heard it IRL.

I think it is alive and well IRL, Sangria - hence the debate!

Oh yes, Brecon! I thought there must be some but nothing sprang to mind.

How can you debate something that only has one side?

It's like saying "well, all the books say 2+2= 4 but I've always thought it was 5 so I'm going to carry on saying it is, even though all the textbooks say it's 4."

It's just daft.

How can you debate something that only has one side?

So speaketh one of the "sides"! (sorry to introduce yet another linguistic form)

Or "spake"

It's like saying "well, all the books say 2+2= 4 but I've always thought it was 5 so I'm going to carry on saying it is, even though all the textbooks say it's 4

No it's not. You can physically prove the 2 plus 2 using beans, or stones....
Maths is easily proved but language isn't.
There are lots of words and meanings in the dictionary that people do not follow. There must be some sort of licence to deviate.

Glad we're still "speaking", Sangria!

Of course, in time, language evolves (hence spake-speaketh-spoke etc) but it would be a unique development linguistically if a regular past tense evolved into an irregular one. Lots of examples of the contrary: dream/dreamt/dreamed etc, and both forms tend to be considered valid, but I doubt it will happen with 'text' any more than 'should of' will suddenly become OK.

'Should of' will NEVER be ok.

I'm firmly on the side of texted (or sent a text). I find it fascinating that many people think it sounds wrong, and I expect this means the irregular past tense form "text" will eventually become an accepted alternative. That's assuming that the phenomenon of texting lasts more than one generation. In reality it will probably disappear entirely and we will all be reading each other's thoughts via microchip or some such (and commuting in our flying cars). Imagine the footnotes of the future, carefully explaining what a mobile phone was and how people used to send messages known as texts.

I'm so glad there are others who feel as strongly about it as I do!!

I'm mid-forties and am very pedantic when it comes to grammar and spelling. "Should of" makes me want to batter someone with a rolling pin.

I actually feel a bit less annoyed about text / texted now that I know people make a conscious decision to use 'text' for past tense because they believe that it's right (even though I know it's not )

That makes me more annoyed, White! I was okay with it when I thought it was an autocorrect mistake, but now I know it is a deliberate choice I am irked!