cn u rd ths?

Chatspeak: Where do I even start? I could rant for pages and pages about this. It's unprofessional. It has it's place, but that place isn't in the public where it annoys the grammar-obsessed people of the world. I am proud to say that I am a member of this group of grammar-freaks.

I got my first cell phone for my 15th birthday. It was a Razr, and I was given a texting plan with it. I immediately texted my best friend and have been texting since. I personally don't see a problem with texting. Like anything else, it can be used or misused. I am not innocent of chatspeak. I admit that I often used chatspeak, and sometimes still use it, while texting. When you don't have a full keyboard, it can be a pain to type everything out. For example, if I wanted to ask my friend if she wanted to hang out tonight, I would say "hey, want to hang out tonite?" What did I change? It lacks capitalization and I changed "night" to "nite." Am I right in saying that it's fairly simple?

I was horrified by the awful disfigurement of the English language by those a few years younger than me, when I saw them using chatspeak on facebook, of all places. "hey wnt 2 hng out 2nt?" I can barely read it. Where are all the vowels? Apparently they are no longer important. Something else I see commonly? "ohemgee lyk ur crzy!!!1!!11!!! idk u!!1!" Once again, I have to read over these comments several times before I can decipher what it says.

People type out entire conversations like this. Sometimes, I even see this on discussion boards of a serious topic. You see well thought out comments with proper grammar and spelling, then you see a comment like "no way ur stupid" or "THAT'S WRONG." I don't even bother to read caps half the time, especially when they have these other issues.

What could be worse than caps or chatspeak? Sticky Caps. When someone types out "iKr ItS cRzY oHeMgEe!!11!" it simply drives me insane. That takes longer to type than simply typing "Oh my gosh, I know, right? It's crazy." The second option may not be proper grammar, but at least it looks semi-decent.

Don't take this wrong, younger generation; I'm not trying to be too condescending. I chatspeak too. I enjoy my unlimited texting, and I would rather text than talk on the phone. I probably spend too much time on facebook. However, you have two options: You can look educated, or you can look "kewl." Your choice.

ttfn,
Shansie