I H8 Txt-Speak !
I H8 Text-Speak
Ok, I’ll admit I’m not typical because everyone I know except me has gigantic over-developed thumbs from constant texting. I suppose that kind of bizarre evolutionary adaption might be a price worth paying if what they texted bore even a passing resemblance to any known language on the face of the earth, but it doesn’t. How R U ? O I’m Gr8 .. Grrrrrr . And whats even worse is when this gibberish creeps into email and other conversations. If I get a message that says.. “hey sxc .. how RU 2dA” all the sender is likely to get as a response is the sound of me grinding my teeth.
Whats the rush ? Whats the over-riding imperative for brevity ? Whats wrong with taking your time and choosing words in a way thats a pleasure to read ? Its not like we’re all being paid a productivity bonus for cramming the maximum amount of communication into the minimum amount of time or space. And isn’t it kind of disrespectful ? If all I have to say to someone is .. “How R U” .. they’re not going to feel very special, are they?If I do that, what I’m telling them is that I am so important and busy, and they’re so insignificant, that I can’t spare the time to even write a few whole words for them. And if I really want to talk to them, brighten their day or mine, why don’t I just ‘phone them anyway ? Thats what the things are for. I mean, you can train an elephant to ride a unicycle but it never looks comfortable doing it. You can type on a ‘phone keypad but ..
For me, the English language is a beautiful, subtle, nuanced way of communicating. From grunting at each other in caves humanity soared all the way to the dazzling language of Shakespeare. Imagine one of his great speeches in text-speak .. “2B or not 2B” .. it just wouldn’t be the same, would it ? We seem to be regressing. Soon we’ll be chiselling How RU on stone tablets and hitting each other over the head with clubs as a form of greeting.Exagerrating ? Me ? As if I would ! But I h8 text-speak .. :))
Ellie
