Are txt msgs impeding language growing?...

[qwerty_smith]

I remember when "ain't" wasn't a word.

semantics go through an evolution of their own, which incorporates the method used to incorporate ideas. most of the time, those boundaries are pretty well defined. someone who doesn't spend all their time on the internet (i know... what?!!) is not going to speak like that in real life. i caught myself saying "lol" in real life the other day to something funny and that almost disturbed me.

take ebonics as an example; most definately a subculture language that evolved over a perod of time and is pretty much confinced to a certain scope of people.

[alittlebitnumb]

i caught myself saying "lol" in real life the other day to something funny and that almost disturbed me.

Well, I never really said "lol" IRL, but have been caught using other phrases such as "pr0n," "lamer," "l33t," and a few others that left me red faced. It just means I spend too much time on here. That may be true in the question that was raised.

Will people be speaking IRC or board lingo in everyday language? I do not see that happening anytime soon. IMHO, when people start talking or writing like that IRL, it means they need to disconnect for a while and take a break.

Maybe I should take my own advice.

[(V)/\><]

i tend to disagree, i think that communications technologies that are around today are allowing more people to communicate MORE, so it is speeding up the evolution of the language, it just happens that it looks like it should not be going where it is, and at that speed too! i blame the cheap-ass that said 160 characters is enough.

[neta1o]

I believe that the new txt msg feature from cell phone companies is also motivating the slang way of writing. If you've ever tried to type a msg into a cell phone to someone it is truly time consuming if you don't abbreviate and condense a bunch. Finally, when typing to someone on a messaging service, i.e. AIM, MSN, etc... It is exremely cumbersome to type "Thats funny" or some other crap when you can put something as simple as "lol" to illustrate the same fealings.

[MrLinus]

If it was just for things like cell phones (where character counts are an issue) then it wouldn't be that bad. However, I see students (these are people about to go into the real world) who think it is appropriate to submit a research essay, professional document with text messaging slang. This is at the college level, by the way.

It has become a habit. Is it a good one or does it mean the evolution of language? Well, that's debatable. I think, however, when you want to be clear about something using slang or poor english doesn't help. What I've noticed is that not only are people going to "IM slang" but they are dropping words and the meaning of the sentence is being lost. That causes a communication break-down.

In addition, while the adage "you can't judge a book by it's cover" we often do. "Leet", "IM slang", "IRC slang", etc. are all, in my humble opinion, inappropriate for the business world and the business world -- where the big bucks are -- seems to agree with this thought. So while it may be good for IM, cell phones, even here, you might want to re-think it when proposing something that could turn into lots of $$$$.

[phaza7]

MY thoughts also Spyrus.

I've found almost writing my father email. Like that knowing he would be calling asking what do this me
or say. ppl are habital animals. what can we say who knows what the future holds

[isimbor]

This might be a little bit OT, but maybe its time we rethink our means of communication

Seriously, and as lame and far-fetched as this may sound, looking at text communication today makes you think that there has to be a better way. Of course, this would not be some giant change that some government would anounce, its more of a thing that as someone has already mentioned, is part of the natural evolution of our language. (Think kind of like "Mediatrons" for those of you who have read some Neal Stephenson stuff).

Of course, before our primary means of "nonpersonal" (for a lack of a better word, ie text in the present) communication vastly changes, you would think the evolution of technology will make text communication almost obsolete in most circumstances though. But think about it. We still need a way to store information, and even with terabytes of bandwidth, cheap storage, etc, video would obviously not be too convienent (or maybe thats just because thats very different that the situation today?).

Be interesting to see what happens, if anything at all.