Whazzup Peepz?: Text Talk, Part II

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Again, I am penning today's first piece while I'm at work. Rest assured, I'm doing this during my prep time and I'm not ignoring "our country's future." Speaking of them, it is time for me to share a note left in the computer lab printer. Apparently it is the typed equivalent to those "old school" pencil-and-paper jobs we old folks wrote while we were bored in biology. Take a look at this computer / text talk. Please remember that I DID NOT MAKE THIS UP nor did I embellish to prove a point. This thing didn't need any embellishing:

Marium,

Wudduhp... lOlz i'm hella bored aqen sitten here nd study hall wit nuthen tah do lyke always.. nd im thinken bowt yu so I decided tah do diz shit.. so wuz qewd witchu? I rlly miss yu haven a fone coz now we kud only tlk wen we c eachothr durin skool which iz lyke 2wice a damn dai.. nd den at trak tu... but itz all qud... yo yu rlly scared me yesterday wit tha whole boyfriend thinq lOlz... that shit had me wuried az hell for a sec that yu rlly did... but newayz how yu been? lOlz I luv how Joe lately has been tlken to yu evrytime I normally tlk tu yu n tha hallz... itz pretty funny... lOlz but I dnt rlly kare coz ya hav been friendz for mad lonq nd I respect that so itz all qud... oh yeah nd yu luk mad pretty tuday... aqen lOlz... damn yu keepn it fre$$h diz week... lOlz yu always do :) iiqht well ima bownce.. hope yu hava qud day tuday... c yu at trak I hope... peace

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Uh huh. Blows your mind, doesn't it? We in the English Department thought it'd been interesting to talk about, so we hung it up in our faculty room. Here's my take on it: people have created a whole new language in an attempt to be as immediate as possible. I know I blogged about this the other day, so I'll try not to repeat myself.

Even though I'm an English teacher, I'm willing to roll with a few grammar/spelling errors. The best of us still make boo-boos from time to time. However, I've become increasingly frustrated with students who have the inability to acknowledge register and embarrassing pseudo-argot. These kids think it's acceptable to use abbreviations and chat talk in their essays. I kid you not. I've received essays with a bunch of !!!! and emoticons in them. Really. I'd like to note that this type of talk exists more so in lower-level English courses. I guess the ambitious type learned how to kiss ass and adjust register.

Don't get me wrong. I use emoticons, slang, and swear words...a lot of swear words. A whole lot of swear words. But I don't use emoticons, slang, or swear words in essays. (And, don't worry, I don't swear in front of kids.) Has the internet and cell phone corrupted the language of youth?

It's important to emphasize that formal writing is a process and this type of effective communication doesn't come from from what Suler referred to as synchronous communication. Okay, so the note to Marium was off-the-cuff, but I know this type of writing has affected his ability to slip into formal writing mode.

The moral of the story? Realize that there's a difference in written communication styles and processes. Use the 24 Hour Rule (as mentioned by Suler) for heated email, use as much time as you can for a formal piece of writing, learn to adjust register and pseudo-argot, and use your free time at work to create a blog for The Sociology of Cyberspace.