This in itself is bound to raise the ire or some. It quite simply is known as txtspk (text speak). It is either the bane of all society for those that disapprove of it, or a wonderful way to separate themselves from the “older generation” for those that use it as part of their lives.
As part of the “older generation”, my first thought is that txtspk is not an appropriate way to communicate. Certainly, in today’s business environment, it is not acceptable (at least, not yet). To a certain extent, I feel that it portrays a certain amount of – ignorance might be a bit harsh – but at the very least, a laziness to communicate properly.
Txtspk began through both instant messaging and text messaging. The earlier versions of cell phones had no easy methods of writing text messages. The earliest cell phones allowed text messaging but it was extremely cumbersome as one had to use the numeric keys to type messages. Each number on the keypad had one of three letters, so the user had to “cycle through” each key to get the right letter. For example, to “type” the word later, they would have to press 5-5-5 (L) 2 (A) 8 (T) 3-3 (E) and 7-7-7 (R). Subsequent devices developed a mechanism called t9 which used predictive logic to guess what the likely word would be. Again, using the same example, the user would just have to press 5-2-8-3-7 and the system would be intelligent enough to predict that the most likely word formed with this sequence was “later”.
However, I think that the reason for the adaption for txtspk goes much deeper than this. Certainly the vast majority of cell phones today have full alphanumeric keyboards, so why would people still partake in txtspk? I think the answer is in how each younger generation attempts to distance it from the older generation.
Thinking back to when I was younger, we didn’t have txtspk, but we did have our own jargon – our own lingo. We would never dream of expressing ourselves in the same way as our parents, and I think that to an extent that is what is happening with txtspk.
As I mentioned, from a very fundamental (and probably archaic!) point of view, I don’t approve of txtspk. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll do the occasional LOL or BRB, but for the most part, I try to express myself appropriately.
The reason why this whole topic came to mind is that I was on my way home one day and I saw an electronic billboard in front of a restaurant, where the message scrolled across “UR going to love us”. I thought to myself “Wow, this is a pretty sad statement of our society when businesses are using txtspk”.
There are a few things that come to mind though. One of the basic tenets of advertising is that it is mission critical to be able to communicate to your target audience. It made me realize that if this restaurant was targeting teens, then this is probably a very appropriate method of “delivering the message”.
The other thing that I considered was that our vocabulary constantly evolves. New words are added to our lexicon, and I’m certain that archaic words are periodically purged from our dictionaries. How many times do we read an article where an established dictionary has added new words? In essence, they are accepting these words as part of our every day vocabulary.
Think back again to the evolution of our literature. Now – for the most part, our literature is relatively young, but probably the most common (and older) piece that I can think of is the bible. Every so often, the bible (or portions of it) is rewritten to make the message more relevant. I wonder if one was to read some of the original documents from 2,000 years ago, how much of the vernacular used would make the message confusing to us.
Will the “modern classics” like Shakespeare or Charles Dickens need to be spruced up in the future as part of the vocabulary becomes extinct? It’s hard to say, but I will say this, technology stands still for no person. As much as we don’t to adapt, sometimes, we’re forced to, albeit with a kick and a scream.
I’m not convinced that txtspk is “good”, but I think that the reality of it (unfortunate or otherwise) is that it is here to stay.
I’m sure that there are many of them, but I did find this one website that gives a good translation of txtspk for whoever is interested (be warned that there is so profane language in it!). http://www.internetslang.com/
In closing, all that I can say is TTFN – CYL8R (ta-ta for now – see you later!)
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