Texting...the end of proper spelling?

Nova

Recycles dryer sheets
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Apr 23, 2010
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OK, I admit it, I text...a lot. It started out as the best way to communicate with my grand kids (two teens). Somehow it has become faster to communicate with DD (busy, busy...who knows when she'll have time to return my call). DS, OTOH only returns texts when there is a certain degree of urgency in my text...like HELP! Aside from texting, I use the subject line in emails extensively. You see, the subject line always pops up (usually routed directly to the phone) and if you can be brief enough, you can get everything you need to say in the subject line. These are the primary ways I communicate with DD and DS...just text with GK. Works well.

Now for the ugly part. My spelling is getting iffy. I catch the shortcuts I use in texting creeping into my normal writing...such as leaving out the apostrophe in contractions, no capitals, etc. I'm getting to the point that I really need to run spell check, not because I don't know how to spell, but because of all the texting shortcuts that make their way into my writing. Is this a new disease?
 
Well, at least you're still using upper case letters at the beginning of your sentences!
 
......... Is this a new disease?

Not for me. My spelling started to slide when I first started to use word processors with spell check. I use Firefox and it spell checks my posts, which by now are a disaster until I clean them up - between my fading spelling and my fat fingers.
 
I've thought about refusing to use shortcuts...lazy-cuts but then I face that tiny keyboard and find it daunting. Sigh...
 
I rarely use the common abbreviations, even when I text. I've always been a fairly fast typist, and I actually have to stop and think about it, then deliberately use an abbreviation like OTOH, or FWIW. I mainly do that to spare my reader a bit of effort.

It was very common at one place I w*rked to put your entire message in the subject line of an email, ending it with EOM (end of message). That allowed the recipient to simply glance at the subject and delete the email without opening it. Primitive texting, and very effective. The only hard part was teaching newbies to use the EOM ending, as they would frequently forget.
 
My spelling never slid! If it did it was a real short slide, as it was never worth a darn anyway. However, language evolves, and txt spch wll most lkly b the spllng of the future. (I don't text either, so I don't have a clue if that made since.)
 
Never heard of the EOM ending but it sounds like a good idea. At first I just said "no need to reply", now they just know.
 
my email client and browser have spell check on and underline misspellings. i am amazed at how many words i spell incorrectly that i would have sworn were spelled correctly but typically i am a still good speller! as long as you spell check your posts they will be fine. abbreviations like otoh or fwiw are ok, we've learned to use them but to type this post using texting would be impossible to read. i don't have a cell phone and wouldn't really care to read posts that were written in that manner.

no words were harmed in writing this post. :ROFLMAO:
 
I used to be like you. When I first started texting, I typed everything correctly. Grand kids laughed at me. When we messaged back & forth they ribbed me about how long it was taking me to answer. I began using just a few "lazy-cuts" and my speed increased. Now, I can keep up a pretty good volley of texts with them...not pretty and I don't stop to correct errors unless it skews what I was trying to say. The brain usually makes the translation anyway. Here is an example of lots of misspelled words...taken from a speed reading course:

Let’s see you read the following ‘vowel-less’ and jumbled sentence relying on your brain’s ‘fill-in’ and reversal program.

“Geuss yn cn ndrstnd th ssnc fo th txt fi yuo raed ti ni eno lkoo .
Raedng si th uaotmtaci sbstitnoi fo th mssng lttrs fr sns nd mnng.”

Translated – “Guess you can understand the sense of the text if you read it in one look. Reading is the automatic substitution for the missing letter for sense and
meaning.”


Seems like there was one of those "forward to your friends" e-mails with something like this years ago. If you don't get caught up in the misspellings, it's quite easy to get the gist of what was being said.

When the spelling is so messed up that it changes the meaning of what I am texting, I correct it. Otherwise, let it fly.
 
Thinking how to shorten words and typing them -and reviewing them to make sure they are understood correctly- takes some practice. I don´t know if it´s worth the whole effort......:confused:
 
I am self-trained as a radio morse code operator. When using morse code to communicate, there is a whole series of abbreviations and simplified sentence structure such that the resulting language I use on the air is something like a pidgin (it might even qualify as such.)

As an example, here is a typical on-air exchange:

GM OM TNX FER CALL BT UR 599 BT OP TOM QTH OAKLAND BT SO HW?

Which translates as "Good morning my friend and thanks for the call. (The letters BT sent with no space between them signify a pause). Your signals are perfectly readable and very strong with a smooth tone. My name is Tom and I'm located in Oakland. So how are you receiving my transmission?"

This is just one example. We have a whole series of abbreviations so that we can carry out a whole exchange by sending fewer letters. For example, instead of the word "sorry" we send "sri", "instead of "now" we send "nw", "grt" means "great" etc. In some ways it's similar to texting. We use "B4" to mean "before" - which might have even crept in from the texting world.

However as I hope you can see from this post, I haven't lost the ability to write in complete sentences, spell the words properly and remember to include upper case characters in the right places.

I think it's a matter of discipline, but folk won't make the effort to preserve something that they don't consider important, and it may well be that "correct" spelling, grammar and punctuation are not as necessary for us to communicate as they once were. What do others think?

As an example, take upper case characters. Personally, it bugs the heck out of me when I see people writing without them (sorry veremchuka!), but his post in this thread is perfectly understandable. I don't think that any meaning whatsoever has been lost by his omission of upper case letters. It's got me wondering just why we use upper case these days. As much as I like to see "proper" capitalization of letters in sentences, maybe I'm just being too uptight for my own good?

Apologies for the long ramble.
 
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For me, it's about respect for my audience. I should take the time to use correct spelling, grammar, syntax, and punctuation. If I'm a sloppy writer, it's not a far leap to assume I'm a sloppy person or I have little or no respect for the person receiving the email.
 
I don't think that any meaning whatsoever has been lost by his omission of upper case letters.

Maybe not meaning, but w/o upper case it does make it harder to pick up the beginning of sentences. Like East Texas says, it has to do with respect for the reader. Why bother reading if the author didn't put a little effort into it?

Worse than no caps, for me, is... the all one paragraph no punctuation just running on and on and on with no visual clue that any word is tied to any other word and on and on and on no thought to what makes a sentence or a paragraph or anything just on and on and on like that

-ERD50
 
It's like gum. I refuse to speak with anyone who is chomping on gum while I'm talking with them. Can't stand it. Won't do it. Spit out the gum and show me a little respect.
 
Maybe not meaning, but w/o upper case it does make it harder to pick up the beginning of sentences. Like East Texas says, it has to do with respect for the reader. Why bother reading if the author didn't put a little effort into it?

Worse than no caps, for me, is... the all one paragraph no punctuation just running on and on and on with no visual clue that any word is tied to any other word and on and on and on no thought to what makes a sentence or a paragraph or anything just on and on and on like that

-ERD50

Posts and emails written in all caps (besides that whole yelling thing) are so difficult to read I won't even try. I no longer have the eyes of a 20 year old and a too many of the capital letters look like other capital letters (e.g. "D" and "O"). All caps is just laziness.
 
Maybe not meaning, but w/o upper case it does make it harder to pick up the beginning of sentences. Like East Texas says, it has to do with respect for the reader. Why bother reading if the author didn't put a little effort into it?

Mmmm...depends on who the message is from. I may read it because I want to know what they have to say.

Worse than no caps, for me, is... the all one paragraph no punctuation just running on and on and on with no visual clue that any word is tied to any other word and on and on and on no thought to what makes a sentence or a paragraph or anything just on and on and on like that

Now you have hit my pet peeve! I usually skip these messages unless it is from some one who: 1) I really think this person has something to say that I need to know, or 2) I know they can't (and usually don't) write...some people just can't...so if I get an e-mail from them I wade through it.

The only thing worse than no punctuation is if it is all in capitals. Don't know why, but that is even harder for me to read.

-ERD50

Comments noted above in blue.
 
And get off my lawn!


BTW, Major Tom, FB on the CW explanation. Wonder how many of us there are here?

Don't knw OM, but am trying hard to stop writing my cpy down es cpy in my head. Also need to break the 20wpm barrier es wean myself off the SK es get comfortable wid the paddle!

Tnx fer "QSO" es hpe cu agn soon. 73. AR SK braumeister de Major Tom KN dit dit
:D
 
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For those who may be wondering if Major Tom and braumeister have finally lost it, please rest easy. Ham radio has its jargon, just like any other hobby (or profession). Ours is just a bit more arcane than most, due to the arduous nature of using what is essentially a binary alphabet. We'll stop now, and return to what passes for normal spelling.
 
Is this a new disease?
You're just adapting to a new culture.

Monks from the Middle Ages had different spelling rules for every abbey. Samuel Johnson would no doubt be horrified by today's spelling & grammar colloquialisms. My 10th-grade English teacher, Mrs. Degentesh, would be absolutely horrified at today's texting although she might be willing to let an emoticon or two creep in.

You just have to decide what culture you want to represent-- hip-hop l33tspeak or pidgin or "propah English". And then switch contexts as necessary...

BTW, Major Tom, FB on the CW explanation. Wonder how many of us there are here?
Are you asking us to QSL?
 
SK forever. Never past 15 WPM.

73s
 
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