SMS... dictionary??

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Way to go...
A group of teachers here made a SMS dictionary, they say "it's necesary in these times so we ('older') people can understand them, it's the evolution of our language which have to adapt to new times" (the story is in Spanish if you can read it it's here)
It's a proven fact that teenagers write worst everyday, teachers complain about the lack of gramatical skills; kids say that to write that way (sms style) is a way to be 'quick' and in the case of sms, cheap because you have limits words in a single sms (120 for one sms) but that would be OK if instead of 'voat' they write 'boat'.
I saw an advertising from Telefonica saying: "c u 2rw" "Now you'll have to learn the new lenguage, to be on the wave" ...
I think that in a few years we will speak without vowels...

 

wot r u on wi evy1 nos txt tlk neway!!

 

I hate this sort of gibberish with a passion. I get really angry when Vodafone sends me an advertising text message that is written without using real words. Every time I get a message that says "Txt yr m8tes all wknd 4 free" I send an angry message to Vodafone pointing out that not all their customers are illiterate kids. They never reply.

I'm probably one of the few people in the world who uses capital letters, full stops, and apostrophes in their text messages.

 

Sorry to disappoint you HB, but I do the same. On the other hand, I never use my phone to send SMSs anyway, so it's a bit easier for me

 

You are not alone, Mr Boy. I refuse to write in anything less than fully punctuated, non-abbreviated English, on both the internet and, on the occasion that I use one, mobile telephones.

 

You people rule!

 

Same here. I'm hard enough to understand already without resorting to non-words.

 

I am with the vast majority of people on this one. Well I am in the category of '' Young people '' being 17, but still I favour propers ways of speaking and talking.

What? You know I just can't understand this babbling.

So I take this is not only in english that this ''SMS thing'' is happening? That's scary.

 

Hey, I use my 120 letters limit because I write the way it has to be (Xxxx, xxxxx; xx. Xxx., etc.) I think my mom payed lots of money for me to learn how to write/speak correctly and lots of teacher did a great job teaching me. Althoug I have to learn more English.

 

For long speeches, you have the phone, so you can just take the phone and call, like phones were originally intended. Or you can write a second one that will cost you a whole couple of cents more.

I never use the lame spelling and I refuse to take it from people. I basically refuse to deal with people who value their time writing more than they do my time reading. The need to finish writing the message fast doesn't come from anything remotely resembling a tight schedule but rather the sickeningly short attention spans the younger generations have. Some are probably too lazy to hit 16 keys for "see you tomorrow", so they go for 9 in "c u 2rw", with a whooping nine character difference. If the message is so extremely important that the author doesn't care to spell it out, I can probably live without that message.

But nowadays people don't understand that. They don't understand that you don't really have any reason to provide them with the information or assistance they need when they don't even give a damn to include a polite address or at least spit the gum out and adopt a moderately un-disrespectful tone for a while.

 

Yay, Chevalier. Also, to be honest, with predictive text messaging, I find it EASIER to write real words than the gibberish ones anyway.

 

I'm with Harbourboy. This type of writing is stupid and a pain to try to read. I am proud to say that I take time to write normally when texting. See, you're not alone, dude.

 

@chev - Thanks for translating 'c u 2rw' for me. I was very and had no clue as to what that meant in a real language.

The only time it bothers me is when I know it takes longer to type this 'shorthand' than it does to actually type out the whole word. But then, I really have no reason to complain since I don't believe cellular/portable phones are necessary.

While I'm being a total nit, wtf is SMS?

 

text messages on mobile phones
think it's a term mostly used in Europe, though.

But I guess you were asking for an "translation" of the term: Short Message Service, iirc.

 

I'd have to say that I do use 'SMS text' when sending messages to my friends. But I'm not as bad as 'c u 2rw' I'd usually write 'c u 2morrow' there, and I still use all the punctuation and capital letters. I have to pay for my own phone and I don't actaully have a job yet(still applying) so it's easier for me cost wise.

 

Do you pay per letter

[ October 07, 2005, 02:13: Message edited by: olimikrig ]

 

Well, at least in Spain, a single SMS cost 0,15 euros to the same operator, 0,60 to another and 0,90 to television shows/reality shows/contests, etc. And in a single SMS you can put just 120 letters or characters (including spaces) you got 121 you have to pay for 2 SMS.

I did a test with my nephew, a SMS with 90 characters, he uses this SMS language, I use the predictive text messaging and it took me 8 seconds less to write it and I am stil a newbee to this technology (back in Argentina is a luxury to have a mobile and its service).
Another thing is that the movile is cheaper that classical telephone and as the people who I talk to usually are from a place to another (not close to the telephone) or in meetings, is better the use of SMS. We pay 8 - 10 euros per month each for the use of the mobile while just for having the telephone line we have to pay 23 euros and we almost never use it.

What I can't believe is the fact that teachers are complaining about the lack of writting skills of kids but they are promoting this dictionary...

 

Me too

 

I don't see the problem with abbreviations in text messages - the medium is ill-suited for writing on, so might as well keep it as short as possible. The internet is a different matter - as for anyone with any skill at typing the word length doesn't matter much at all.

 

I think on the whole it depends not so much on what you're writing in the text message, but how you use it and your contract. E.g. I use text messages for such messages as "on my way", "need anything from the shops?" since my contract allows me 50 free texts but I also get 600 free minutes and so I use the phone to have a conversation therefore I don't need to use the shorthand as I don't send a lot of texts.