To wish people wouldn't write 'text' when they mean 'texted'?

[SadAboutTheBoy]

Sorry, but it makes my teeth itch.

My sister text me to say she was late

I text the other mum to tell her..

He text me to tell me it was over..

It's texted FFS!

(And it's packed lunch, not 'pack' lunch BTW)

What is? If you are referring to "chest of draws" you are wrong. It is simply the use of the wrong word due to ignorance of the correct term (amazingly). It has nothing to do with spelling!

Isn't the point being made that it isn't an issue of pronunciation or spoken English, in non-rhotive accents at any rate? Ie 'drawers' and 'draws' are almost indistiguishable in spoken non-rhotive English, which leads people to think they are also spelled the same, so it becomes an issue of a mistake in written English and the way the word is accurately spelled, rather than actual conscious word choice.

The reason is, as others before us have said DadDadDad (and often in our own little PC Haven over yonder ) that in the very distant past, as old English morphed into something akin to the English we use today, there were a handful (and if you think about it, there are only a handful) of commonly used verbs) that kept their irregular (and back then, they weren't irregular, they were simply the verb forms that were used) form.

It's precisely because their frequency in both spoken and written language that means their form hasn't changed. In short, we've got used to them. Verbs with a lower frequency have changed and become regular. Verbs are still becoming regular all the time. What they don't do is become irregular.

The incorrect use of "text" as a past tense stems from the over-application of a rule that the user perceives to be a blanket rule. We see it all the time in child language acquisition- children hear and assimilate irregular past tenses easier, and earlier than regular ones, I suppose because they stand out. So a child will say "went" before they can manage "liked". Then they understand, and hardwire the regular rule of the ED ending and have a little phase where they use "goed" all the time before starting to (in a third phase) catch on to the fact that there are two rules.

It is fascinating.

Language corpora is very interesting. There is a current school of thought that is investigating the usefulness of teaching non-native speakers the past tense in English before the present tense, as corpora shows that we use the past far more often than we use the present (think about it: how often do you say "I eat the lettuce" cf "I ate the lettuce yesterday" etc) and therefore it's arguably more useful.

That really is a discussion for PC though!

I'm going to imagine them as two warring tribes.

Don't forget the fricatives, the nasals and the approximants!

The plosives, fricatives and affricatives have their own internal factions too.

*because of their frequency

Even pedants make typing errors

Yes, Jessy, I think "chest of draws" (apart from apparently being used by squillions of people the world over, known only to MNers ) is to do with rhotic R.

It'd be interesting to see a study on whether people with rhotic accents use the draws, or the drawers spelling.

Yes, of course, it can be intransitive as well.

Vintage, i have found my people.

"Text" as a verb is presumably a fairly recent development (yes, I'm sure someone can dig up it being used in Shakespeare or something , but it's widespread use obviously has only come in with mobile phones).

So, I think it's too early to say whether "texted" or "text" is the "correct" past tense. Dictionary has plumped for "texted" on the basis of standard rules, but as lots of people are writing (and presumably speaking) "text", it might win, and in a few decades' time seem completely inoffensive.

No, I don't think it will Dad, because it is already dying out as a verb form.

Kids laugh at us when we use it.

My teenage students roll their eyes and say "listen to her with her "texting" It's the 21st century equivalent of our parents talking about gramophones, wirelesses and omnibuses.

"whatsapp" has become a verb, and I think is here to stay for a while- certainly longer than "text" will.

IM/PM/SMS are all verbs.

People have managed to use the word "drawers" correctly for centuries. How amazing!

Only relatively recently have some people begun using the wrong term, it seems. It is about spelling not pronunciation and it is also about sloppy use of language.

Some even imagine the term is "chester draws".

Jassy - if Vintage's post is your kind of thing, then check out Pedants' Corner, where we've discussed text before:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pedants_corner/2481453-Text-or-texted-for-past-tense?pg=1

Spelling and pronunciation are inevitably connected Nina.

I would bet money that people with rhotic accents don't spell it draws.

It's the 21st century equivalent of our parents talking about gramophones, wirelesses and omnibuses.

Nope. These are nouns for which we have modern equivalents.

All the kids here text or use Snapchat,they laugh at people using WhatsApp as "it's for old people."

Vintage - interesting.

I wonder if text declines in use as a verb, whether that will actually give more opportunity for the irregular past tense to establish itself, as users of that form will not often be corrected?

However, your theory is that only high-frequency words preserve irregular forms so maybe "texted" will win the day. We need to come back to this thread in a few years to assess!

I say text. I've never heard anyone under the age of 40 say 'texted,' so it reminds me of my mum and nana

Spelling may be affected by pronunciation but that doesn't mean one should expect a word to be spelled (or spelt!) as one pronounces it. That is ridiculous and lazy.

TextED. I'm sorry, but it has to be.

My current fight (because I work in a shop) is with Contactless turning into a verb. As in 'Can I contactless' this payment?', when they mean 'can I pay using Contactless?' or even 'Can I pay Contactlessly?'

Only relatively recently have some people begun using the wrong term, it seems. It is about spelling not pronunciation and it is also about sloppy use of language.

Do you think that you might have misread the situation and missed a couple of factors? First, there is the explosion in literacy rates in the U.K. over the last 150 years, and the second is the democratisation of publishing/content dissemination provided by the internet.

So first, a lot more people are writing, and second, a lot more people can share their writing with much larger audiences. So previously a misspelling that would be in a handwritten letter from one person to another is now shared with much larger audiences. Then those misspellings gain currency because people see them used and if they don't have a firm grasp of that spelling themselves, they align to pronunciation they see from their peers - which is where things like 'chest of draws' gain a foothold.

Yes it is. Nobody is disputing that "chest of draws" is wrong. We're explaining why it happens.

It's the same as the example used upthread "didn't used to". You even see that getting past proof-readers. The error stems from the application of a phonetic norm, not because the person is necessarily lazy or ignorant. They could, of course, be both...

My last post to Nina. (not Jessy)

I love "Can I contactless this"

That's brilliant!

Mental, but brilliant!

It's not brilliant,it sounds AWFUL