The Keypad Solution

Quote: 
There is a long and noble history of trying to change the English language’s notoriously illogical system of spelling.Whether texting conventions are supported by organized spelling reformists or not, can they possibly solve the difficulty of spelling our troublesome language? David Crystal, the author of “Txtng: The Gr8 Db8,” told me in an e-mail message that “there’s nothing in texting to suggest spelling reform,” noting that texting relies heavily on abbreviations, which he sees as creative stylings, not systematic improvements. He added that there is very little that is new about most of the abbreviations and lexical shortenings that make texting so maddening to so many. In fact, he said, with the exception of a few recent coinages like LOL, “virtually all the commonly used ones can be found in English a century ago.” For example, bn (been), btwn (between) and wd (would) can all be found in a 1942 dictionary of abbreviations.( Ammon Shea )

Reaction:  The way people spell and speak has been a problem for as long as I can remember. The English language is one of the most common spoken languages and one of the most difficult to learn. A lot of people have tried to change things and alter others in the English language and have miserably failed. Their failing attempts do not surprise me at all. Spelling reform is the attempt to change the spelling of English words to make it conform more closely to pronunciation. I agree that txting relies on abbreviations and is merely a creative style of communicating through the English language. The way the English language has suffered I believe does have a good bit to do with the way people all over the world have let txting control their lives, but I also believe the English language has suffered because people have not become more knowledgeable.  Txting might have cause people to hate what has become of the English language but I believe everyone communicates through txting and always will. Abbreviations will always be used and never stopped. Abbreviations are not the "bad guy". Also, almost all abbreviations we use now, were used a century ago. The English language is changing and so are we.

Reference Ammon Shea( 2010, January) The Keypad Solution. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/magazine/24FOB-onlanguage-t.html


Related Resource: This link is a great example of how the English language is changing. Abbreviations are no longer the thing of the past, they are the here and now. "LOL", "OMG","BRB" are all now in dictionaries which blows my mind. How does it make you feel?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/opinion/05tue4.html?ref=englishlanguage