WITH its astounding rise in popularity since 2001, text messaging has been widely deplored as the ruin of teens, language and perhaps civilisation itself. Yet the reality is far less dire.
There鈥檚 no evidence that texting damages writing skills; on the contrary, academic studies 鈥� as well as creative phenomena such as text poetry 鈥� indicate that texters can actually be talented writers. In any case, texting isn鈥檛 as innovative as you might think: abbreviations are hardly new and a highly text-associated word like 鈥渨ot鈥� dates from 1829. Thanks to Crystal for dispelling the hysteria.
David Crystal has provided some examples of txtspk: can you guess what they mean (answers below)?
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Here鈥檚 one to start you off: 鈥渢wz d bst of x, twz d wst of x鈥�
Answer: 鈥淚t was the best of times, it was the worst of times鈥� 鈥� Charles Dickens鈥� A Tale of Two Cities
- (/)pnc, HHkrs GYd 2T glxE
- 1st amgst =
- dad@hvn, ur spshl
- ggggUK4gg
- LEmntry, my dEr wtson.
- 4scr + 7a ugo r 4fthrs brt 4th on this cn10nt a nu nAshn cnCvd in lbRT + ddc8d 2 th prop tht (evRE1) r crE8d =
- 2b? nt2b? = ???
- fr ur ii only
Think you鈥檝e worked them out? Here are the answers:
- 鈥溾�楧on鈥檛 panic鈥�, Hitchhiker鈥檚 Guide to the Galaxy鈥� 鈥� Douglas Adams
- 鈥淔irst among equals鈥�
- 鈥淥ur Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name鈥�
- 鈥淎 horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!鈥� 鈥� Shakespeare, Richard III
- 鈥淓lementary, my dear Watson鈥� 鈥� attributed to Sherlock Holmes
- 鈥淔ourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.鈥� 鈥� Abraham Lincoln, the Gettysburg address
- 鈥淭o be or not to be, that is the question鈥� 鈥� Shakespeare, Hamlet
- For Your Eyes Only 鈥� James Bond short story collection by Ian Fleming
Txtng: The Gr8 Db8
Oxford University Press