Advanced search

Answers


The 'innit' generation.......

How long before English as we know it turns into a texted lauguage, my wife was recently marking her students Law exams and the amount of text language used was incredable, theword you has almost dissapeared and has ben replaced by 'U', For is now 4, the word question is now always ?, i am speaking more about the written word than the spoken, if you think its not that big check this website where you can now translate Text messages or learn to write them. Here is an example.

http://www.lingo2word.com/translate.php

 

sssss
 (no votes)

submit an answer
  • Member status
  • none

Categories: Technology.

Tags: EnglishLanguage.

 

Report abuse


7 answer(s)


Reply

petethebloke says:

u awt 2 c sum o d crud we hv 2 put up wi on dis forum sum tms

Seriously, though, ask yourself if it matters? Your own question contains unconventional spellings of "incredible" and "disappeared", at least two missing apostrophes that P_P would never have dropped, and an i for an I. We still understood you.

If you ever read any texts written in English from about 1500 to, say, 1800, you will notice a distinctly cavalier approach to spelling. Casual writing, e.g. correspondence between friends, was even more haphazardly spelt. Johnson wrote the first dictionary in 1755 closely followed by the Victorians who standardized (standardised) everything. The idea was that a standard approach made communication easier and recognized the etymology of words at the same time.

Two linked thoughts have been deeply ingrained in the psyche of intelligent English writers for many years: it's not hard to learn to spell; inability to spell must therefore signify stupidity.

In the 'sixties the "non-élitist" approach to education appeared. This has led to dyslexia being diagnosed in 10% of schoolchildren. The poor little scraps must not have their work marked in red pen, and their spelling is not corrected, in case their feelings are hurt. The ignorant blighters are allowed into university, unable to spell simple words or to add up without a calculator. After three years of that the Government wrings its hands because yoof unemployment rates are so high.

So, as my ramblings indicate (I hope): on the one hand it doesn't matter provided people can be understood; on the other hand it matters a great deal.

One last observation: any young Chinese people I meet speak and write better English than their average peer in the UK.

PS I took the liberty of attaching a screenshot with some red pen... all in the best of humour :=)

sssss
 (no votes)

Tags: EnglishLanguage.

top
 

posted on 2011-02-18 09:43:22 | Report abuse

Reply

Nicholas56 says:

Hi Pete, you have highlighted my point perfectly, you see, us, shall we say less educated/intelligent people have always been the poor relation when it comes to spelling and grammar and 99% of the time never achieve greatness or have much influence on the world. we potter along with our lives and occasionally one of us break through into the world of intellect and leave are mark on the world.... The other folk ( the intelligent people) effect the world around them and can make a difference, once the intelligent people start to act like the ignorant people then surely it will become the norm, so a small thing  like spelling will never be effected by the masses because they don't have much say on the written word, but let’s say for example some of the great writers of today started writing things in text language surely it would then become more visible and would eventuallly be written into the English language, hence I used the law students as the example.

I love the highlighted in red section, brought back lots of good memories.

sssss
 (no votes)

Tags: EnglishLanguage.

top

posted on 2011-02-22 05:56:00 | Report abuse

Reply

petethebloke says:

>I love the highlighted in red section, brought back lots of good memories.<

Phew!

One always takes a risk when teasing someone on the interweb. A bloke in my home town (Cardiff) got shot for it a few years ago. I figured you wouldn't travel this far with a gun... but you never can be sure :=)

sssss
 (no votes)

Tags: EnglishLanguage.

top

posted on 2011-02-22 11:07:34 | Report abuse


Reply

Paul_Pedant says:

A barely remembered sketch which I attribute to the Two Ronnies, concerning ordering breakfast.

F U N E M ?

S. E F M.

F U N E X ?

S. E F X.

F U N E T ?

S. E F T.

I F M N X N T, N.

I suspect there was a lot more of it about.

 

sssss
 (no votes)

Tags: EnglishLanguage.

top

posted on 2011-02-18 13:35:11 | Report abuse


Reply

petethebloke says:
sssss
 (no votes)

Tags: EnglishLanguage.

top

posted on 2011-02-18 13:59:33 | Report abuse


Reply

skyrunner says:

I have a theory that it will be very soon that we will all be writing in "Text Speak". As mobile phones become more popular it has seemingly become more common. Soon it is possible that their will be no such things as mail only emails and texts

sssss
 (no votes)

Tags: EnglishLanguage.

top

posted on 2012-11-13 01:48:12 | Report abuse


The last word is ...

the place where you ask questions about everyday science

Answer questions, vote for best answers, send your videos and audio questions, save favourite questions and answers, share with friends...

register now


ADVERTISMENT