2 txt, or nt 2 txt?


2 txt, or nt 2 txt?

Is texting really destroying our language?

Imagine this: you’ve just been offered a job you really, really wanted, or you’ve passed an important exam with flying colours. And you’re thrilled! In your joy, you decide to share the good news with your friends and family – and reach for your mobile phone.

And why? Simple – because in the world we currently live in, texting is the easiest, most efficient way of communicating quickly. In just a few seconds, you can send a text and your friends and family will have the good news sitting right in their pocket. Texting is fast and convenient – so why has it received so much hatred?

A response heard far too often to this is as follows: Because of the ‘grotesque’ abbreviations! And what about the kids? They’ll become illiterate! They’ll fail their exams!

These myths are ridiculous! It’s true that abbreviations are a common feature of text messages, and that young people do text a lot – but why is this assumed to be such a dreadful thing?

Abbreviations and initialisms are a result of a language evolving to be easier to understand, and although John Humphreys argued that they are too difficult to interpret, I must disagree. After all, no-one ever told me what thx, BTW or LOL meant – I figured it out for myself when my friends started to use them. And anyway, despite what the myth might lead you to believe, the linguist David Crystal conducted research which showed that only 10% of words in textese (the langauge of text messaging) are abbreviated – which is really not a lot.

And why do people assume that texting is making people – particularly kids – illiterate, when there is no proof? In fact, the opposite has been shown – texting is actually improving people’s spelling, due to the improvement of phonological (auditory) skills. Again, this is due to abbreviations – to shorten tonight to 2nite, you have to understand how sounds and letters work, and how words are put together. By this guideline, why aren’t young people encouraged to text? Just think, every time they type out a text or are glued to their mobiles, they’re boosting their reading and writing skills. Is it any surprise then, that texters are the best spellers?

And guess what? Students know when not to text! This little fact may shock you, but it’s the truth – students know that they can’t write exams in text speak. Honestly, why on Earth would they? The kids of today aren’t stupid, and we shouldn’t insult their intelligence in this way!

In my opinion, this is all a ridiculous excuse to object to texting, when we have no reason to. Nothing stays the same forever, and our language is no different. It’s changing and evolving, something we’ve seen happen many, many times before – only this time, it’s to accommodate modern technology. And anyway, some abbreviations are over a hundred years old, which proves that texting isn’t actually changing the English Language that drastically.

We need to embrace texting and embrace the enhancements it’s making to our language!


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