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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that the past tense of the verb to text is texted, not text!

172 replies

Marmitelover55 · 31/01/2016 11:05

Assuming it is actually a verb and not a noun...

OP posts:
Hulababy · 31/01/2016 11:14

Oxford dictionaries says it is texted when used as a verb

Andfaraway · 31/01/2016 11:14

YANBU, and you're right, but you'll be told you're a pedant, a snob, and wrong.

Marmitelover55 · 31/01/2016 11:17

Thank you! Smile.

OP posts:
MissBattleaxe · 31/01/2016 13:09

YES! YANBU. It drives me mad. People sound stupid when they say "I text him yesterday". It's like toddler talk. "I go there yesterday" "I see it yesterday"

I can't believe how many people think text is a past participle!

VashtaNerada · 31/01/2016 13:12

YANBU! I often hear it along with 'aksed' (instead of 'asked') but that might be a London thing.

Fallstar · 31/01/2016 13:17

I'm with you, Marmite, but I'm sure many will disagree unfortunately!

EatShitDerek · 31/01/2016 13:19

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ZiggyFartdust · 31/01/2016 13:21

Of course it is texted, it couldn't possibly be text.
I don't care how many people say it, they are all wrong. It sounds like when people say things like "I done x"...did, not done. Texted not text.

Bloody obvious.

Veritat · 31/01/2016 13:21

Of course it's texted. Derek, do you think "tested" and "rested" sound silly? It's exactly the same formation.

justaguy · 31/01/2016 13:21

It's annoying but also an interesting study in how language develops. My theory is that people tend to miss the final 't' of 'text', as in 'I will tex her'. The logical past participle is then 'texed', which happens to sound just like 'text'.

Narp · 31/01/2016 13:22

texted sounds better, IMO

Text could be correct - a precedent is the verb 'cut' and other verbs which don't have -ed in the past tense

ellebelle27 · 31/01/2016 13:24

Isn't the use of text as a verb quite recent? As we have no language committee to decide on an official past simple form then i think only time will tell whether common use is for it to have a regular -ed ending or for it to be commonly used in an irregular form.

EatShitDerek · 31/01/2016 13:24

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Narp · 31/01/2016 13:24

People on Jeremy Kyle have a tendency to say 'I sent her a textis' (not the noun 'text')

I think this demonstrates that language does develop in strange ways

gamerchick · 31/01/2016 13:24

I'll never used texted. It looks and sounds ridiculous. Other people can do as they please.

Throwingshade · 31/01/2016 13:25

It drives me mad OP.

Veritat · 31/01/2016 13:26

Yes, it is a new verb, and the fundamental rule is that a new verb takes the standard past tense, i.e. "ed".

When someone writes "I text her" it reads as if they are speaking in the present tense and, if that isn't what they mean, it makes it unnecessarily difficult to work out what the hell they're saying. If you can't express yourself so that people understand you first time round, you're doing it wrong.

Veritat · 31/01/2016 13:28

My theory is that people tend to miss the final 't' of 'text', as in 'I will tex her'. The logical past participle is then 'texed', which happens to sound just like 'text'.

That would only work if people actually write "tex" and "texed".

Interestingly, autocorrect just changed that last word to "texted". Which sort of suggests that that's where majority opinion lies.

ZiggyFartdust · 31/01/2016 13:29

How does it look and sound ridiculous? Does rested look and sound ridiculous? Or liked or talked or walked or worked?
Regular verbs take that format in English and there is no reason text should be irregular.
English has rules, you can't just ignore them.

Whenwillwe3meetagain · 31/01/2016 13:29

Can't stand it either but aren't we all whatsapping now anyway?

EatShitDerek · 31/01/2016 13:30

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gamerchick · 31/01/2016 13:32

I can do as I please! I don't like the word it looks ridiculous.

ZiggyFartdust · 31/01/2016 13:36

It doesn't matter what you think if the word, or any word, they exist and are correct independent of your opinion.
You can carry on using the wrong word if you like, you won't be alone.

EatShitDerek · 31/01/2016 13:37

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gamerchick · 31/01/2016 13:45

The damned word was probably first used on Jeremy Kyle anyway, it sounds that daft.

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