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BTW, IM's changin' written language


Mike

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I was just reflecting recently on all the ways IM's, Chat and such have change the writing format. It's was bad enough with contractions, now we have "WTF"? and one of my favorites stfu. So all I can say is wtf? and you can tell me to stfu, I guess.

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'tis aggravating, though, regardless of when it started. It teaches kids how to spell words incorrectly, and that's why we have such stellar comments left for our Songfacts.

I can hardly wait until little Johnny grows up and tries to become an attorney, and can't write but for the shorthand he uses in his text messages.

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hmm, true...

thinking about it, I can't really talk alot about it, since I learned to read an write the "old-fashioned" way. This whole stuff didn't come until I was in my late teens and I wouldn't know how it is when you're 12,13,14 nowadays and using SMSs and IMs on a regular basis :P

PS. I'm glad that I'm not one of the people who use "lol", "rofl" or "omg" as words in a spoken conversation...

:doh: :stars:

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I think people worry about the threat of text/IM language way too much. People who use text language to shortern their texts know how to use real words too, they just don't want to use them when it takes 5 minutes to type "I will see you tomorrow" on a cell phone.

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I submit for your perusal a comment that was left for an eminem song in our Songfacts. And bear in mind this is one comment of many hundreds - in all genres - that are similar.

Everyone here is saying that eminem was right his mother was a b**** but i dnt think any1 gets da realy message! The fact that eminem sometimes blames himself for wot happened with his mom thats y he says sorry, she might have been better before he was born, i can write about him and all his songs for hours but the fact is he tells it like it is in HIS words so only he will get what is reali being sed! If u wanna coment o dis e-mail me

**

I would like to point out that I'm proud this poster used "would have" instead of "would of" which is so commonly mis-used as the long form of "would've." (could've, should've, etc.)

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^ Well, if someone's IQ is low to begin with... :P

I think people worry about the threat of text/IM language way too much. People who use text language to shortern their texts know how to use real words too, they just don't want to use them when it takes 5 minutes to type "I will see you tomorrow" on a cell phone.

I agree. We were talking about this not too long ago in a Linguistics tutorial... text speak is not something that will ever become universally accepted, not like slang for instance... it's limited to one single group of people, and even those people can only use it at certain times, which means they're forced to write properly when they're not online/sending messages. Also, people start using the internet and mobile phones at the age of ten at the earliest (yes, there are (scary) exceptions), and by that age they're expected to be able to write properly... which means all this textspeak doesn't really interfere with them learning to write.

PS. I'm glad that I'm not one of the people who use "lol", "rofl" or "omg" as words in a spoken conversation...

:doh: :stars:

Someone I know once used "lol" in a spoken conversation with me... I don't think she'll ever do it again :grin: :P

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it never crossed my mind to use "would of" :P

That's because you learned the correct way to write. It never would have occurred to me, either... until I received a Christmas card one year where someone used that... now I'm hyper-sensitive to it, I guess.

I liken the "I'm proud" part to throwing a doggie treat to a dog because he didn't pee on the carpet. Gotta encourage these young-uns when they do something right. ;)

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'tis aggravating, though, regardless of when it started. It teaches kids how to spell words incorrectly, and that's why we have such stellar comments left for our Songfacts.

I can hardly wait until little Johnny grows up and tries to become an attorney, and can't write but for the shorthand he uses in his text messages.

That's the most intelligent thing I've read all week. Don't challenge the students, lower the standards!

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