Texting

SSL (Sorry So Late)

Unfortunately I was not able to read the chapter “How Weird is Texting?” written by David Crystal since I do not have the book Txtng:The Gr8 Db8. According to summaries and comments written about this piece, Crystal provides an in-depth look at the history and effects of texting. In order to have an idea of where he was coming from, I decided to do a little research on texting myself. Although I had never considered using Wikipedia as a source, I decided that I would this time. It allowed me to find out a lot about texting. Texting, or text messaging, is a part of what is called the Short Message Service (SMS). Did you know that texting has been available not only on mobile phones, but even through the computer? As a matter of fact the first text message was sent via a pager. In 1989 NASA sent a text with a Motorola beeper by “using upside down numbers that could be read as words and sounds.” This reminds me of the messages we used to create with the calculator like 7734, aka hELL. While it continued to evolve, it was primarily used by the deaf and hearing impaired. According to Wikipedia, use by the general public didn’t really take off until the year 2000.
In the piece written by John Sutherland entitled Cn u txt? You can obviously tell that Sutherland has a little something against the idea of texting when you notice how he describes it as “snot-talk” because it’s like blowing your nose on tissue(text is Latin for the word tissue) and then throwing it away. I believe he takes the coward’s way out of expressing his true feelings by blaming them on educators--of course. He says that “Wood-headed educationists will point out that it's a forgiving system: it masks dyslexia, poor spelling and mental laziness. Texting is penmanship for illiterates….” Now teachers, how do you like being called “wood-headed”? And how do you like being falsely quoted in this manner? Well, I don’t! Still, even though I cringe to say it, he does, however, go on to say something that makes sense. And that is the statement that since young people are so used to using their fingers to play hand held video games, it is only befitting for them to take so easily to the concept of texting. But he doesn’t help his case that I have against him by comparing text users to monkeys, or more accurately--apes. Although Sutherland ends his point in an underlying negative tone, he does admit that even though we are now writing, or texting, more than we are speaking, we are nevertheless writing and are therefore “all scribes.” From this article, we see that texting has had an effect in so many ways. As I continued my research via Wikipedia, I discovered other effects of texting technology. First, students use it for cheating on tests and bullying other kids. Lies have been recorded and used in the court of law; advertisers have taken advantage of texting in whatever way they see fit, and riots have occurred. Nevertheless, texting has had positive effects such as allowing people to vote for their American idol, reach out to potential voters for the president of the United States of America, and to rally up a group efficiently. Unfortunately, it still appears to have had more negative upshots than good such as the arrival of something that I choose not to delve into as it may reflect a bit of weirdness on my part which I do not claim. This purely negative result of texting has led to what is coined as sexting. It may be consensual or unfortunately unwelcomed. This phenomenon is reported to have occurred as early as 2005. That’s all I have to say about that. But, I cannot end this blog on this note; so lastly I would have to say this:
After viewing the various web sites that I chose to look at, I actually never realized that there were so many abbreviations in the language of texting until I discovered the Texting Dictionary from the site maxabout.com. Here are some that I found interesting and they have the following meanings:
*<:o)>

Santa Claus
:-
Angry
:-~)
Having a cold
:’-(
Crying
GAL
Get A Life
GMTA
Great minds think alike
GR8
Great
KISS
Keep it simple, stupid
KIT
Keep in touch
KOTC
Kiss on the cheek
KOTL
Kiss on the lips
L8
Late
L8r
Later
LDR
Long distance relationship
LMAO
Laugh my ass off
LOL
Laughing out loud
RUOK?
Are you Ok?
TDTU
Totally devoted to you
THX
Thank You
THX40
Thanks for nothing!
W8
Wait...
WAG
Wild ass guess
WAN2
Want to
WB
Welcome Back
WLUMRyMe
Will you marry Me?
WRT
With respect to
WTF
What the f...
WTG
Way to go!
WUF
Where are you from?
WUWH
Wish you were here
X
Kiss
X!
Typical Woman
Y!
Typical Man

Finally, my only question is how can anyone become completely fluent in a language that is so ever-changing and has so many dual meanings? Can't the intent of a message get lost? How can such a language become standard in its own nature?