SMS Speak

SMS Creating a Virtual New Written Language - Mar 9 2004

Chong Seck Chim for New Straits Times ponders on why text messaging is so appealing to young people and if there really is cause for academic concern.

- "SMS has the edge on e-mail for small talk. Many youngsters are hooked, and have become expert at chopping up the words and phrases to save time and money for their gossip.

- It takes a nimble mind and a deft thumb, to key in the SMS text. Youngsters are ready to try anything. Some pupils in England are now learning Sindarin, the elvish language used in The Lord of the Rings ó just for fun.

But what about concerns that that SMS spelling is lowering standards all round? There seems to be some legitimate cause to worry notes Chim, "if you go by the many student job applications ending in SMS style, "I hope 2 hear from U soon".

"Purists may fret about its aberrations, as they did once over bad handwriting and spelling. Now it's the hybrid words, like ResQ and Sureheboh, which bug the conformists. Still, concludes Chim, in the end we should come out all right".

Gaelic Text-Message Dictionary - April 19 2003

A tiny Gaelic guide to texting -- an infamously difficult language spoken by fewer than 60,000 Scots -- is now available to mobile phone users. According to Marilyn Gillies, of Gaelic media company, Canan, and the compiler of Gaelic's first text-message dictionary: "Text-messaging in Gaelic shows that the language is alive and attractive to a new generation". According to the Scotland on Sunday.

An Essay Written in SMS Shorthand - March 4 2003

Baffling her teacher and creating an uproar in the academic world, a 13 year old Scottish schoolgirl handed in an essay, entirely written in text messaging shorthand. She said she found it "easier than standard English". Ananova

Your Texting Dictionary - Feb 17 2003

If you have trouble deciphering a text message, check out transL8it, the first SMS dictionary, launched last year.

Simply type in your texting lingo and let transL8it convert it to plain english, or type in a phrase in english and convert it to TXT lingo. EZ.