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Mon 3 Mar, 2003 10:48 am
Children's obsession with mobile-phone messaging is seriously damaging their written English, warn experts.
This is part of an essay written in text language by a 13-year-old girl at a secondary school in the west of Scotland:
Quote:"My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we usd 2 go 2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :-@ kds FTF. ILNY, its gr8.
Bt my Ps wr so {:-/ BC o 9/11 tht they dcdd 2 stay in SCO & spnd 2wks up N.
Up N, WUCIWUG -- 0. I ws vvv brd in MON. 0 bt baas & ^^^^^.
AAR8, my Ps wr :-) -- they sd ICBW, & tht they wr ha-p 4 the pc&qt...IDTS!! I wntd 2 go hm ASAP, 2C my M8s again.
2day, I cam bk 2 skool. I feel v O:-) BC I hv dn all my hm wrk. Now its BAU ..."
cn u trnsl8 a txt sa?
Quote:"My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York, it's a great place.
But my parents were so worried because of the terrorism attack on September 11 that they decided we would stay in Scotland and spend two weeks up north.
Up north, what you see is what you get - nothing. I was extremely bored in the middle of nowhere. Nothing but sheep and mountains.
At any rate, my parents were happy. They said that it could be worse, and that they were happy with the peace and quiet. I don't think so! I wanted to go home as soon as possible, to see my mates again.
Today I came back to school. I feel very saintly because I have done all my homework. Now it's business as usual..."
Full article (in English!)
Well, it succeeds in one important respect: It's an insider language that the rest of us can't understand. But I've read that teachers now have to instruct the kids that they have to use standard language for their assignments. If the kids can negotiate between the two successfully, then I see nothing wrong with it.
But if they can't, we may be in big trouble!
according to todays Rocky Mountian News about 50% of adult americans are not literate enough to read instructions for using child restraint seats for automobles which are written at the 10th grade level.
I didn't understand anything in that message until I read the 'translation.' You mean kids can read and understand this gibberish? What an amazing skill! Perhaps it should be encouraged.
It's just a kind of secret code to the rest of the world.
If u cn read ths u can lrn sw & get mo pa.
Yes, Phoenix, I remember those ads in the subway cars.
Wow, I remember those ads, too, now that I see your posts. Good for you two, Merry Andrew and Phoenix!
Of course, ask me to list the Miss Rheingolds, and I'd have no problem. Ditto for Miss Subways...
I totally agree with D'art regarding being able to go back and forth between the two. I have used an email pager heavily for about 5 years, and recognized many (if far from all) of those abbreviations. And we all use GMTA, ROTFLMAO et al. Knowing this stuff isn't the problem, it is NOT knowing proper English.
What's GMTA, Sozobe? (I'm serious.)
My sister has been excellent in speedwriting - therefore, I didn't try it "in public".
Most interesting for me that foreigners (e.g. Germans from Russia), who hardly know more than a few proper English sentences, use this SMS-language as well.
Thank you, Sozobe. Whoever said, "Ignorance is bliss" never had to deal with the slang of teen-agers nor the bewildering jargon of computerese.
I'm with Merry Andrew. Anything you know, that they don't is a posative in my book.
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