Texting not to blame for poor English

Texting not to blame for poor English

au.news.yahoo.com

Mobile phone texting isn't destroying the English language and proficient texters are usually better at reading and using traditional spelling and grammar.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I’m not sure I buy this one. Most texts have been on the fly dictionary assisted to start with. I don't know about you but most texts I see are shorter than an ATS one liner. Not much chance to check the grammar there.

Perhaps this is why - she should check the real world

Clip
"She asked 55 undergraduates to read and write text messages using normal English and abbreviated text language, which she branded "textisms".

au.news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

You have to have a fair understanding of the language and how it is used to make clever sms. There are the lame ones too but I don't see that sms can be used as a scapegoat for poor language skills, no matter what the language. Figuring it out is a puzzle sometimes. It makes you think. You really have to get inside your friend's head in order to figure out what they're trying to say when they get really clever.

Of course there are those folks who just aren't clever and never will be. They slaughter the language whether it's in sms or not. So what difference does it make? Not a lot. It would just be nicer if schools focused on giving kids a real education. Stick to the basics and let life teach the rest. If kids knew their mother tongue, that would go a long way to preserving good language skills as a mode of communication rather than allowing it to slip away into a final bastion the academia (or those just so inclined).

I'd like to mention here that I know plenty of academics who with absolutely atrocious writing skills. Likewise, I know plenty of just plain folks with admirable language skills.

I think what makes the difference is whether you actually care or not.

Oh... I kno. Thrs no way that txtn wil mes up ur vocab!

I agree. You have to know the words to shorten first. But it is a good find. One less excuse the govenment or educators can use telling us that our kids are dumb cos they text... No... They just can't THINK for themselves.

That's because when you go to school, you're effectively being taught *not* to think. You're taught how to spew back the info they feed you in the way they want it spewed back. Anything more or less is unacceptable.

My son graduated today. The Principal's speech was focused on the state of education and its role in our society. She said it's backward nowadays. It should not be that you get an education to forge the way to a job. She said it should be (as it was long ago) that you get an education as you go through your life and know your career.

She's right. Where we live, most people under thirty have at least their Master's degrees. Now we have a whole lot of PhDs and Master's doing cleaning jobs or other "unskilled" labor jobs. Funny thing is that you also need certification these days to be a cleaner. It's gone too far now with education being purely for the sake of education. To be a PA these days you need a Master's degree, five languages and accounting certs. Why?! Why do you have to have a four-year vocational certification to be a cook or a hairdresser? You do here! It's absolutely insane.

You know, I guess I'm pretty old. My great-uncle left home when he was eight years old. He hopped on a train and left the South and worked his way up to NYC. As he grew and worked and learned, he made it up to being a senior editor at a newspaper there. He did that by learning. By people taking interest in him and nurturing their fellow man.

That's what we lack. We don't need studies to tell us what we're doing wrong or right. I think we all know that in our hearts. Why don't we spend our time and energy changing what's wrong and making it right. We lack common sense anymore because we're blinded with all our science.

I'd agree that is is responsible for the 'fast' spread of the abbreviated vocabulary. I can assure you howver, i was amongst one of millions odf school kids in the early 90's who derived this new 'shorthand' way before mobiles hit the scene, they wrote it on school bags, books. diarys and notes to one another. Texting just spread the use of the language. It was used bu those who could spell well and also by those who couldn't. They were aware this was not the correct way to spell but thought it more of a creative, clever form of shorthand.

[edit on 5-12-2008 by MCoG1980]

I think some people can't accept that language is a fluid, moving thing. Just because we have a dictionary doesn't mean everything we speak or write is written in stone and shouldn't be changed.

Usually, when someone "butchers" a language, it's because their brain puts together their grammar in a way that makes simple, logical, and/or phonetical sense. You'd think after centuries of development, English would already be simple, logical, and phonetical, but as we all know, English is none of these.

I'm all for a proper education in grammar, but if the way of the future for English is how texting (and look at that - texting - accepted now but unheard of 10 years ago) is taking us, then so be it.

We may laugh at the idea of an emoticon or "lol" or something in our business writing nowadays, but 50 years from now it may be acceptable in business or academia.

"She asked 55 undergraduates to read and write text messages using normal English and abbreviated text language, which she branded "textisms".

Study is lame and way to narrow in scope. My Emphasis above. Undergraduates should have a decent grasp of grammar and spelling.

She isn't observing a relevant variety of age, region and educational backgrounds.

When I text, I am compulsive about grammar as I think 'textese' is sloppy.

My opinion, I think texting is a form of IngSoc...

Eh I too think the study is too narrow and too small. And I dont think its affecting English....at least not with anyone I personally know.

People have been using this kind of speak way before texting was available! I remember the days of beepers where you would type out a word using numbers I feel old now.

I text, but I have a full keyboard on my phone, so I can actually type out words (in fact, I dont know all the "text speak"...rather then hitting a numbered key a few times to get the letter I want. What a pain! Try using chat that way No wonder people started with the abrievated words!