A pet peeve of mine

[orbaya]

Am I allowed to post a little rant?

One of my pet peeves is people not spelling out words when they type. For example: u, ur, r, etc. Does it really take that much time or effort to type the extra two or three letters?

I realize that this may not bother other people, but it drives me nuts!

I''m done now.

 

[LostSapphire]

makes me crazy too!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

It doesn''t come naturally to me, but my guess is that it became so common because of text messaging on cell phones. I don''t text message, but I can see why you''d need shorthand trying to type letters on a cell phone!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I realize that I sound like a bitter old woman when I say this, but I''m convinced that text messaging has completely butchered the English language. It drives me batty.

 

[orbaya]

Date: 3/23/2008 9:33:17 AM
Author: diamondseeker2006
It doesn''t come naturally to me, but my guess is that it became so common because of text messaging on cell phones. I don''t text message, but I can see why you''d need shorthand trying to type letters on a cell phone!

I can understand it while text messaging, but when one is typing on a message board or email, I would think people could spell out the word.

 

[orbaya]

Date: 3/23/2008 9:49:22 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady
I realize that I sound like a bitter old woman when I say this, but I''m convinced that text messaging has completely butchered the English language. It drives me batty.

I tend to agree with u. Ur point iz a good 1.

LOL!

I also can''t stand cuz to mean "because" ACK! It seems like some people are just too lazy to actually spell the entire word. Posts, emails, etc like this makes my eyes hurt! LOL!

 

[strmrdr]

considering that over the years I have typed several 10s of millions of words on message boards yes a few letters here and there saves wear and tear on my fingers :}

 

[arjunajane]

Orbaya, I''m afraid I am one of the guilty parties you''re referring to. Sometimes I do use "ur" etc. if I''m writing a post and want to do it quickly. I agree this is most likely due to me being a bit younger and being used to text messaging often. I feel this kind of thing, within reason, is acceptable (to me at least) on a message board as it is somewhat of an informal conversation. I would never use that shorthand in a formal email to someone or in a letter, but it does save time when typing - plus I''m getting carpal tunnel in my right hand from work so the less I type the better!
Not making excuses - I can sympathize with you as bad spelling is a pet hate of mine and makes me fustrated when I read writing from people twice my age with myriad spelling mistakes (I''m not just referring to the board here by the way)..
just giving another POV and saying that I consider myself a well educated person (somewhat!) and 99% of the time my English (I hope) is without fault, except when I choose to be lazy, yes!

Just out of curiousity, may I ask you are you also not fond of the phrases such as "LOL", "ROFLMAO" etc etc? Or I guess these are a bit different..?

 

[iheartscience]

Add me to the list of people who hate "u, ur, r"! I can''t stand it. It started with Instant Messaging forever and ever ago when I was in middle school. I never did it then, either! And I do text message, but I still spell out every single word correctly!

I mean "you" is only three letters-why not just type it out? For me it would take way too much effort to even remember to type in "u" instead of "you." Plus I think if a person makes a habit of using abbreviations like that they might accidentally slip into using "u, ur, r" in a professional correspondence.

As for arunajane''s question about abbreviations like LOL, ROFLMAO, etc., I personally don''t like to use them, but seeing those abbreviations doesn''t bother me like seeing "u, ur, r" does.

 

[arjunajane]

Thing2, thanku for answering my question - see this is where I think I can't see a difference. Both of these types of abbreviations were created for use when messaging/blogging etc. on computers or mobiles/IM, so what makes one "any more annoying" than the other? I'm not being inflammatory, just trying to understand

Just because Orbaya, I notice you use LOL twice in ur post, but can't stand "ur" ..?
And Thing2, I will have to disagree with you about the "habit" of it creeping into professional correspondence - I can only speak for myself, but I find it really easy to separate the informal style of writing I use here or on txt, then switch back to formal for an email or writing a paper etc. Like I mentioned before, i find bad spelling alot more annoying and degenerative to the English language..

 

[Haven]

Shorthand doesn''t bother me on message boards when the writer''s meaning is clear, but I do assume that the writer is a teenager whenever I see it. For some reason it just looks juvenile to me, but it doesn''t bother me.

It DOES peeve me when my students think they can use shorthand when they''re writing for my class, though. I always assign them a grade of "R" which means "rewrite required".

 

[isaku5]

Date: 3/23/2008 11:33:00 AM
Author: Haven
Shorthand doesn''t bother me on message boards when the writer''s meaning is clear, but I do assume that the writer is a teenager whenever I see it. For some reason it just looks juvenile to me, but it doesn''t bother me.

It DOES peeve me when my students think they can use shorthand when they''re writing for my class, though. I always assign them a grade of ''R'' which means ''rewrite required''.

Way to go, Haven!! I wish all teachers did that.

 

[isaku5]

Date: 3/23/2008 9:49:22 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady
I realize that I sound like a bitter old woman when I say this, but I''m convinced that text messaging has completely butchered the English language. It drives me batty.

No, you''re not nearly old enough yet so I''ll take that job for now.

I''ll amend it slightly, though. I''m " the bitter old schoolteacher". If I weren''t married, I could throw spinster into the mix too.

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

Date: 3/23/2008 9:49:22 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady
I realize that I sound like a bitter old woman when I say this, but I''m convinced that text messaging has completely butchered the English language. It drives me batty.

I am with you 100%. I am not a bitter old woman, I am a disallusioned 22 year old, so it comes with the youth as well. It is not a problem too much on this forum, but on my other one with younger girls it tends to be really common. I simply do not read their posts or threads for fear of droping my IQ. I will say I am a poor speller, but that is not laziness, just incompetence.
I think it is unfortunate because it makes the people who do it look stupid, is hard on the rest of us to read and, my experiece with teenagers has taught me, they start to think that way and suffer when it comes time for school work. I also think it is sad, if people are so concerned with just getting the message across and not on the readability, what will happen to literature?

Sorry, off my soapbox, just don''t give up on all us youngings!

 

[sera]

I'm guilty cuz (

) when I text I use: u, ur, 2nite, tho, thru, etc. I typically don't capitalize and will even leave out apostrophes (e.g. wont). I will not leave out other punctuation like commas or periods because I feel it makes the message unclear, and that drives me crazy.

When I'm texting, it's very natural for me do it and it really does save time and characters (One of my pet peeves is when one text is broken into two, and the second one only has a few characters.) I do not have a problem switching over to typing properly written emails- that feels natural as well. I do adjust the level according to who I'm texting. At my interpreting job we communicate using text; I do use the abbreviations but not as liberally as I do with my friends.

Sometimes on here, I will write words as they often sound when we slur them together as we speak (e.g. yanno, kinda, gotta, etc.). Same thing as adjusting my speech depending on who I am talking to (or interpreting for).

 

[Sabine]

Just out of curiosity, to those of you who are bothered by the abbreviations for u, etc., do the common abbreviations on PS bother you, like PS, FI, MOB, etc.? I don''t use the standard text abbreviations, although I do catch myself not capitalizing properly, but I do use all the common PS abbreviations, and I think I would get annoyed typing out all of those words I use over and over again.

 

[coatimundi_org]

Yup, don't care for it either.

Especially don't care for "cuz" for some reason. There's something just ridiculous about it!

I don't use "LOL" either. I'm more inclined to use "Mwah HA HA" "heh heh" "WhaHOO" "Har de har har" or something of the sort.

 

[arjunajane]

Date: 3/23/2008 12:15:30 PM
Author: brazen_irish_hussy

Date: 3/23/2008 9:49:22 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady
I realize that I sound like a bitter old woman when I say this, but I''m convinced that text messaging has completely butchered the English language. It drives me batty.

I am with you 100%. I am not a bitter old woman, I am a disallusioned 22 year old, so it comes with the youth as well. It is not a problem too much on this forum, but on my other one with younger girls it tends to be really common. I simply do not read their posts or threads for fear of droping my IQ. I will say I am a poor speller, but that is not laziness, just incompetence.
I think it is unfortunate because it makes the people who do it look stupid, is hard on the rest of us to read and, my experiece with teenagers has taught me, they start to think that way and suffer when it comes time for school work. I also think it is sad, if people are so concerned with just getting the message across and not on the readability, what will happen to literature?

Sorry, off my soapbox, just don''t give up on all us youngings!

I''m a young person, only a couple of years older than you, and I would have to sorely disagree with you here. I think you''re kind of exaggerating the issue.
So if I were to write an intelligent reply to somebody''s question on PS, using all the correct spelling and grammar, but I used "ur" instead of "your" than you will simply brand my post and me stupid?! I agree when someone goes over the top and writes a whole sentence in truncated words it may be difficult to understand, but are you really saying that when someone uses "ur" (I will stick to this example as it is the one in the OP), that you find it hard to follow their meaning? I fnd this hard to understand...?
You admit yourself that you are a poor speller. I ask you what is the difference between laziness and "incompetence" - if you really wanted to you could take the time to learn to spell 100% properly, just like I could spell out All my words if I weren''t being a little bit lazy sometimes...

If that is your opinion, than you will have to avoid all my posts from now one, incase "your IQ gets dropped". But I am concerned that if you apply such harsh judgement to everyone, you may have to skip over the posts of some really knowledgeable people!

Sorry, off my soapbox aswell. I just don''t like all young people getting tarred with the same brush.

 

[neatfreak]

I teach undergraduates, and it drives me nuts when they hand things in for class or write me an email using that language! Ugh! I think that THEY think it is ok simply because I''m not old. IT IS NOT OK!

On a forum like this it doesn''t bother me if people use a few shortcuts here and there, but I don''t do it myself. It does really bother me however when an ENTIRE post is written in shorthand. I usually just skip those because they bother my eyes...

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 3/23/2008 1:24:00 PM
Author: coatimundi
Yup, don''t care for it either.

Especially don''t care for ''cuz'' for some reason. There''s something just ridiculous about it!

I don''t use ''LOL'' either. I''m more inclined to use ''Mwah HA HA'' ''heh heh'' ''WhaHOO'' ''Har de har har'' or something of the sort.

I am officially adopting Mwah haha! it sounds perfectly diabolical! Love it!

I don''t like "ur" etc either, but I am an old lady is a 30 year old body.

DD

 

[MoonWater]

Well, I think it''s silly to use poor writing for class or work, but I don''t see the big deal on message boards. But maybe that''s because it''s informal communication. I often leave out apostrophes or shorten words to be done quicker and I type 80wpm. Often I''m typing from work or in the middle of other projects. Besides, it''s known that people do not need correct spelling to understand what is written. As long as the first and last letters are correct, we can pretty much decipher anything. I''m sure everyone has seen this example that went around in email, I certainly had no issue reading it properly the first time around:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn''t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

 

[coatimundi_org]

Date: 3/23/2008 1:47:53 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie

Date: 3/23/2008 1:24:00 PM

Author: coatimundi

Yup, don''t care for it either.


Especially don''t care for ''cuz'' for some reason. There''s something just ridiculous about it!


I don''t use ''LOL'' either. I''m more inclined to use ''Mwah HA HA'' ''heh heh'' ''WhaHOO'' ''Har de har har'' or something of the sort.

I am officially adopting Mwah haha! it sounds perfectly diabolical! Love it!


I don''t like ''ur'' etc either, but I am an old lady is a 30 year old body.


DD

I''m an old lady in a 32(yikes!) year old body.

(rubbing hands together)
MWAH HA HAAAA

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 3/23/2008 1:53:44 PM
Author: MoonWater
Well, I think it''s silly to use poor writing for class or work, but I don''t see the big deal on message boards. But maybe that''s because it''s informal communication. I often leave out apostrophes or shorten words to be done quicker and I type 80wpm. Often I''m typing from work or in the middle of other projects. Besides, it''s known that people do not need correct spelling to understand what is written. As long as the first and last letters are correct, we can pretty much decipher anything. I''m sure everyone has seen this example that went around in email, I certainly had no issue reading it properly the first time around:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn''t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

I also could read that with no problems, but that is because, like you, I have a very good sight-word vocabulary and so read whole words. As a note, many people don''t have a good sight word vocabulary and would have a really hard time reading that statement. It is actually a common reading disability, my DH has it though it was never diagnosed as a child and caused him problems in school (I diagnosed him when I met him

).

DD

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

Date: 3/23/2008 1:44:06 PM
Author: arjunajane

Date: 3/23/2008 12:15:30 PM
Author: brazen_irish_hussy

Date: 3/23/2008 9:49:22 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady
I realize that I sound like a bitter old woman when I say this, but I''m convinced that text messaging has completely butchered the English language. It drives me batty.

I am with you 100%. I am not a bitter old woman, I am a disallusioned 22 year old, so it comes with the youth as well. It is not a problem too much on this forum, but on my other one with younger girls it tends to be really common. I simply do not read their posts or threads for fear of droping my IQ. I will say I am a poor speller, but that is not laziness, just incompetence.
I think it is unfortunate because it makes the people who do it look stupid, is hard on the rest of us to read and, my experiece with teenagers has taught me, they start to think that way and suffer when it comes time for school work. I also think it is sad, if people are so concerned with just getting the message across and not on the readability, what will happen to literature?

Sorry, off my soapbox, just don''t give up on all us youngings!

I''m a young person, only a couple of years older than you, and I would have to sorely disagree with you here. I think you''re kind of exaggerating the issue.
So if I were to write an intelligent reply to somebody''s question on PS, using all the correct spelling and grammar, but I used ''ur'' instead of ''your'' than you will simply brand my post and me stupid?! I agree when someone goes over the top and writes a whole sentence in truncated words it may be difficult to understand, but are you really saying that when someone uses ''ur'' (I will stick to this example as it is the one in the OP), that you find it hard to follow their meaning? I fnd this hard to understand...?
You admit yourself that you are a poor speller. I ask you what is the difference between laziness and ''incompetence'' - if you really wanted to you could take the time to learn to spell 100% properly, just like I could spell out All my words if I weren''t being a little bit lazy sometimes...

If that is your opinion, than you will have to avoid all my posts from now one, incase ''your IQ gets dropped''. But I am concerned that if you apply such harsh judgement to everyone, you may have to skip over the posts of some really knowledgeable people!

Sorry, off my soapbox aswell. I just don''t like all young people getting tarred with the same brush.

I don''t mean people who ocassionally use ur or cuz stop me from reading a post, I mean ones that are so full of text speak they are illegible, sorry I didn''t make that clear. The difference with my spelling is I have a hearing issue that makes it difficult for me to spell correctly (because I cannot understand the phonetics properly) or pronounce words I have read but never heard correctly. Maybe that''s why "cuz" bothers me, it is one of the few words I can consistantly spell correctly!
I just know my teenage cousins have a difficult time changing out of text speak for class so even though they are smart, they often do poorly becuase they lack the skills to go back and forth and that is what scares me, not people who can do both well.

 

[Pandora II]

It drives me crazy! Add to that people who don''t split their posts into paragraphs so you are confronted with a huge block of what looks like ''dense knitting''.

I left one forum in the UK because I struggled to understand nearly every post it was so full of ''text speak''. One of the things I love about PS and one of the other forums I belong to is that everyone writes properly.

I like capital letters, proper punctuation, grammar and spelling - oh, and add normal black font to that. If others want to write in bright pink fonts or use text speak, that''s fine - but I will skip their posts.

I have no problems with acronyms - LOL, PS, FI, FIL etc, but I do have an issue with lazy English.

Text speak just makes the person sound very uneducated whether they are or not. It''s also worth bearing in mind that this is an International forum - using text speech is very unfair on members whose mother-tongue may not be English.

 

[Haven]

I agree that acronyms don''t bother me as much as shorthand, but I certainly had a lot of problems understanding posts on PS before I knew what all of the acronyms meant!

I''m not sure if I believe that text speak is deteriorating students'' ability to write proper English, nor do I have any fear that it will have a negative effect on literature. However, I am quite sure that I agree with Brazen Irish Hussy that it does make the writer look unintelligent. I''m sorry if that offends anyone, it''s just the truth as I see it.

Pandora, you make an excellent point about shorthand being unfair to readers who are not native English speakers.

 

[Maisie]

When I send messages on my phone I use predictive text. I find it easier than shortening the words for some reason!

 

[orbaya]

Date: 3/23/2008 11:05:00 AM
Author: arjunajane
Orbaya, I'm afraid I am one of the guilty parties you're referring to. Sometimes I do use 'ur' etc. if I'm writing a post and want to do it quickly. I agree this is most likely due to me being a bit younger and being used to text messaging often. I feel this kind of thing, within reason, is acceptable (to me at least) on a message board as it is somewhat of an informal conversation. I would never use that shorthand in a formal email to someone or in a letter, but it does save time when typing - plus I'm getting carpal tunnel in my right hand from work so the less I type the better!
Not making excuses - I can sympathize with you as bad spelling is a pet hate of mine and makes me fustrated when I read writing from people twice my age with myriad spelling mistakes (I'm not just referring to the board here by the way)..
just giving another POV and saying that I consider myself a well educated person (somewhat!) and 99% of the time my English (I hope) is without fault, except when I choose to be lazy, yes!

Just out of curiousity, may I ask you are you also not fond of the phrases such as 'LOL', 'ROFLMAO' etc etc? Or I guess these are a bit different..?

No, I don't mind those. They are meant to be LOL, etc. I use them in "internet speak", but they aren't shorthand for something that has always been part of the English language, where LOL, etc came about during the interent/IM era and, so I'm used to that. I guess I don't understand that if someone types out "ur", do typing the two extra letters create that much more effort? Does that make sense? I'm 31 so I grew up before the internet and text messages were around so I always spelled "your, are", etc.

 

[orbaya]

Date: 3/23/2008 11:33:00 AM
Author: Haven
Shorthand doesn''t bother me on message boards when the writer''s meaning is clear, but I do assume that the writer is a teenager whenever I see it. For some reason it just looks juvenile to me, but it doesn''t bother me.

It DOES peeve me when my students think they can use shorthand when they''re writing for my class, though. I always assign them a grade of ''R'' which means ''rewrite required''.

That is great!

I grew up before internet/IM was around, we managed to spell out "you, are, your" etc. just fine.

 

[orbaya]

Date: 3/23/2008 12:47:08 PM
Author: Sabine
Just out of curiosity, to those of you who are bothered by the abbreviations for u, etc., do the common abbreviations on PS bother you, like PS, FI, MOB, etc.? I don''t use the standard text abbreviations, although I do catch myself not capitalizing properly, but I do use all the common PS abbreviations, and I think I would get annoyed typing out all of those words I use over and over again.

I don''t get annoyed by those abbreviations. Words like "you, are, your" are full words and always have been. The PS abbreviations have been around since the beginning of this site. They are meant to be internet speak, but words of the English language were not meant to be shortened. I hope I''m getting across what I''m trying to say.