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Contrary to popular belief, when someone “typs lyk dis”, it isn’t easier to read, it isn’t quicker to read and sure as hell is not easier to type, considering that most people use smartphones which have auto correct. Then why do people swim the seven seas to make sure that they omit all vowels, convert characters to numerical values, replace question marks with exclamation ones and break the law that states only one punctuation mark is necessary!! |
To all the people out there who respect the rules of the English language and spend several precious seconds of their lives bothering to type out each and every letter of a given word, I deeply apologise for the preceding paragraph.
Being a teenager, I feel the pain a million times more severely than most adults.
As John Sutherland has rightfully said: “Texting is penmanship for illiterates.” It is astounding that chat language has taken off with a boom and has acquired nothing short of a cult following in the past decade.
The icing on the cake is that there apparently exists a Texting Statue which contains rules and regulations regarding grammar and construction of a text. I apologise on behalf of all the people who did not know that something of that sort existed.
Please, do forgive our ignorance as we were not aware that “Sup dude, wnna hng out 2day sumwhr!!” had complex roots and structure.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for modernisation and embracing the gifts of the 21st century. But people pounding on random combinations of letters and numbers, that’s downright unacceptable. To everyone who may say that the point of language is communication, nobody, even in the “modern era”, is going to employ you if you begin integrating LOL and BTW in your CVs or college essays. And the purpose of language goes beyond communication; language puts into words every little thing about you; your thoughts, your feelings and your personality.
Admit it, “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? “ has far more meaning and emotion than “Romeo dude whr r u?!?! been wai8tn so lng dat it feels lyk its been 4eva!! :(”.
Let me set the record straight. It is NOT in vogue to gobble up the rubrics of grammar and spelling. Nobody is demanding that people write texts like Shakespeare wrote plays. We all replace the occasional “You” with a “U” or use “Wbu” instead of typing “What about you”. But everything has a limit.
Endorsing chat language is treacherous to the young generation. It pains me when I get texts from my friends or see little children write their essays in crumbled words. It does not hurt or cost you more money to add in those extra two letters to “whr”. Nor does it make you seem less “cooler”.
It is normal human behaviour to judge people and we judge on criterion that we ourselves aren’t aware about. I would rather text someone who respected the language than someone who’s made it their life’s mission to destroy it, simply because it makes the former seem more intellectual.
Somewhere down the line, I know I will see my kids open the Oxford Dictionary to words such as “LOL” and “OMG”. As sad and unfortunate as that is, language is a vibrant and budding monster.
Shakespeare himself might frown upon the language we use today, however it cannot remain frozen in time. Nevertheless, I’m sure none of us want to see “2nyt”, “BF&GF” and “BRB” join the likes of several other beautiful and intoxicating words our language has to offer.
So spread the message and keep in mind, charity begins at home.
♦ Ritica Ramesh is studying in Class 11 of Doha’s Birla Public School