"txt spk"

Not alone. I tend to assume that perpetrators of this are either 12 or a congenital idiot. Or both. [insert usual being-an-old-bag disclaimer here]

I just really dont understand it, why do it! Sometimes she might as well write her messages in French (I cant speak it!) and I think I would understand it more.

I'm afraid I'm guilty of this in text messages since I had to go back to an old phone which is a nightmare to use so the less time I have to use it the better. Luckily most of my friends are younger than me and are far worse at using text speak than me so I can get away with it, just!

WSS> Although loml and I do communicate in lolcat on gmail messenger ?

My sister does this and she wrote a whole text that I couldn't understand - so frustrating !!!

We have a couple of teenaged babysitters and I sometimes chat to them on MSN. I usually have great difficulty translating their posts into proper English - it's like they're typing in a completely different language!

My niece (21) and my MIL are the worst offenders for text speak. I can understand it quite well. It's on the AS English Language course, so I've had to teach the theory behind it.

I can't abide txt speak and it kills me that my brothers taught it to my mother!

I did find some comments by Stephen Fry on the whole thing interesting though. He basically said that txt spk is an evolution of the English language and therefore is likely to just get more acceptable - afterall, we don't speak in Ye Olde English anymore. I'd hate it if he's right. I don't think you can communicate as fully via txt spk and how do you relay emotion through it?

Lolcat is different though, isn't it? Txt spk is for idiots. Lolcats is funny!

Kthxbai!?

My husbands boss, who is a well paid, intelligent and successful IT manager, uses text speak in his texts. He immediately went down in my estimation. Actually my boss does it too with a hint of Northamptonshire dialect too. Awful, absolutely awful.

Took me months to realise that LOL means "laugh out loud" and not "Lots of Love" !!

I was puzzled as to why my friend peppered her text messages with lots of love ?

I had an email last week from a junior colleague asking:

'plz wud u'

Fark me. Why the hell are we hiring these morons?

My sister types like that too. And she's training to be a teacher ?

I can forgive txt spk in mobile messages as letters are limited (although my text messaages are perfectly formatted), but anywhere else is just an abomination

I used to moderate some chat rooms, and had to point out to the chatters that there wasn't a restriction on letters and they could use all of them - especially vowels

I think I was in the minority

I send emails to my son in Lolcats, but that's funny and ironic. Txt spk in anything other than a text message is lazy. I can understand the necessity for it, and that language always evolves, but I maintain that using it in emails or on forums implies that the reader should have the time and inclination to decipher this nonsense because the poster is far too busy and important to communicate properly. It's arrogant. And, invariably, people who post in txt spk are the least likely to say anything worth the effort of deciphering anyway.

I have students emailing me in text speak from time to time. But they only do it once....?

This was a status update by one of my daughters friends.

At CoL!! SoOo BoReD!! GeTiN ReCKED 2NyT GeTin ON It!! LuV Ya ShAz Mi LiL SiS!! LuV Ya AmZ!! BmFl!! 0HhHh9!! HeHe LiAms OuT SoOn!! Cnt WaIt!!

I do not understand the the capital letter at the start of every word either.

That hurts my eyes ?