text speak.................please *DON'T*.........or am I old and decrepit??

[psychomum5]

I know several on here hate it, but are we too old to 'get' it (and therefore be unreasonable ourselves), or am I right to just

HATE HATE HATE

IT????

cos at the mo, if I see a post with text speak I ignore it (life is too short to try and decifer(sp?) it IMVHO), and also those with pure SHOUTING in too.

I also, shamefully maybe but there you go, actually think less of people who cennot seem to 'speak' properly in their posts. It is not as those we are limited on how many letter we have to use. we can waffle for pages if we like (altho better not to obviously), so I think text speakers lazy and not worth bothering with.

obviously this is only MY opinion, and I am sure peoples opinions of me are as 'blunt' too at times. but sorry.....

if you resort to text speak, then I will ignore you.

It's just plain bad manners. Many here on Mumsnet have English as a second language. If you think in another language, how difficult must it be to try and decipher text speak into a semblance of English, then translate it into the laguage you are comfortable with.

While I have nothing agains common contractions like 'cos', 'til' and 'spose', it it only polite to assume that the only common language on mumsnet is English. Written language lacks the nuance of spoken conversation which can lead to misunderstandings (so common on some threads). Writing the sort of language that is readable by everyone on mumsnet at least goes some way to rectifying this.

@ marmite being used as an eg...

that's very true slug about the language barrier thing.

Also means that posters such as Wannabe (who use a screen reader) are unable to "access" posts written in text speak as the readers I'm sure can't cope with it.

I'm sure they probably throw slightly wobblies at spelling mistakes (??) but I'm sure if the majority of the post is in "normal" English then those using screen readers cold probably deciphers what was being said even with a few spelling errors littered around.

I know, i checked my spelling when i'd done it too, it was only when i'd posted i noticed my mistake. Its the people who do it constantly that annoy me.

I don't like text speak - but I like shortening words my way - and I do find LOLspeak quite funny...

I also hate smileys, but am partuclar as I hate them when they made up of punctuation marks - but i quite like these

I think that makes me contrary...

I hate smilies too, but they go a long in avoiding people being offending, you stupid cow

See? My cunning winking smiley made you realise I was joking.

I hope!

Offending? Offending? WTF?????

agree songbird - is good for a semblance on 'context' or 'sense

ta is shorter than tanx?

I don't understand why later is plural? I've assumed (tho could be wrong) that some people say "New Years" because they're saying "new year's" and I can't hear the apostrophe, but that logic doesn't work for later.

I also don't understand "what's the skinny" when people are asking for news.

I think it's not so much text speak as all new slang that confounds me. But it's a fair point re screen readers - that must be very annoying indeed.

yes, hedgwitch, it really is quite traumatic isn;t it.

Ugh no, not an age thing. I am 20 and I hate text speak.

I don't mind the occasional shortened words, but really really hate the messages like "Wot u up 2 2day do u want 2 c dat film." people always leave on facebook etc. The dey, dat, dem, annoys me the most.

Sorry, it just makes you look THICK. And I hate it when people use dyslexia as an excuse to use text speak. If you're dyslexic I don't see how that is easier to read/write. I know plenty of people who are dyslexic and use spell checkers. They might mix up they're/there/their but that is barely as annoying as something which is unreadable.

My rule for texts, if I really want it to fit it on one, is:

1. Go back and delete the spaces after full stops, commas etc
2. Really think if I need to say all that
3. Refer to people by their initial, if it makes sense (controversial this, don't like doing it!)
4. Then and only then, if the above haven't worked, I'll abbreviate words

But, I'd never say l8er and the like - it's just wrong.

In this day and age with predictive text, there's no excuse for lazy texting!

And as for emails and MN, good God, unforgivable! Acronyms are good though.

Than god it's not just me. I also hate it but thought it was an age thing as I'm 37!

Anyway nice to know I'm not alone

I always write texts in full with proper punctuation & grammar .
I hate text speak so much it makes my spine fizz (so to speak)

I punctuate and spell out actual texts, so no, I can't be bothered to give the benefit of my advice/wisdom/sympathy to those who post in text speak. I am sure it is really missed

My mother (who is 63 and endlessly drilled into me the importance of spelling, grammar and punctuation) uses textspeak and it makes me howl with rage and gibber. This, I think, is why she does it!

I am a complete arse, as I hate 'lol' and 'OMG' but will quite happily use FFS and I like the MN smileys.

Ooh, ooh, and my mum puts 'hugz' on her texts just to really wind me up.

I must be old and decrepit and proud of it. I hate txtspk and predictive text, AND I punctuate (even though apostrophes are a faff to get to on my phone)

wotsits

I know precisely how many times I have to press the star button to get my apostrophe. Most of my texts go to my DH who doesn't know his apostrophe from his ampersand. Yet I still do my texts correctly. I can't help myself - it must be correct.

Can I join the grumpy old farts - I'm actually sad enough to go back and correct grammar, punctuation etc in texts. Am at a complete loss with many acronyms - took me half of yesterday to figure out what yanbu meant -

you are not being useful?
your answer's nothing but urine?
young and nubile but useless?

got it in the end though

You couldn't say "Roger" on Mumsnet without spawning a spate of smutty retorts.

at roger!