Nuts and Bolts: txt.

Shorthand is a bad thing.


What?


Then what's all the fuss about texting, then?

A study has found* that adults text their friends and family more often than they speak face to face. This is odd, unless the word family has got itself a new meaning while I wasn't looking. Okay a lot of family talk is in the form of grunts, but surely few families can exist without someone saying we're going to be late! or where's the remote? several times a day.

Anyway. Text. I think it's rather 1drf [wonderful]. I mean, it uses all sorts of cunning wheezes like acronyms and even pictograms ;) [wink] to get its message across.

It's remarkably flexible, too: tomoz or 2mro [I'm sure you can get that one]? 10q, thnq or ty [thank you]? It doesn't matter.

I admit this flexibility can cause trouble. Our Prime Minister used to have a habit of using lol to sign off his texts, thinking it stood for lots of love. Well, it can do, and has done, but not a lot of people know that and so he's been teased for being out-of-date and ignorant. When he was only really quirky.

People complain that texting makes people (other people, obviously) less able to spell, but...hm. Can you run through your reasoning on that, please? Oh, and some proof would be nice, too.

In any case, how can anyone not have an affection for a system that's given us a word to represent evil laughter?

Muahaha!

ty 4 rdn**

HAND***

+u****

Word To Use Today: text. This word arrived in the 1300s. It came from the Mediaeval Latin textus, which means version, from an earlier word which means texture, from texere, to compose.

*I know that any figures following this phrase are almost always dodgy, but just for the sake of argument...

** Thank you for reading.

*** Have a nice day.

****Adieu!