Ugh.
When I was an adjunct instructor at a local college, I detested when students used textspeak.
U. u’re. U R kewl. Y? Y r u 2 kewl?4 real!
Get the picture?
I got so annoyed with it that I gave something at the beginning of the semester for them to see how silly it can look when written.
There is something like 100 errors in this little “story,” that I wrote. But that also includes bad spacing, punctuation, spelling and capitalization as well as silly grammar mistakes.
I submit this wonder to you now:
So, r u ready to rite this semester?
this class will require alot of writing, so u need 2 come 2 class and pay attenshun.
Details r things u need 2 work on. remember that u r graded 4 every thing u hand in. this is u’re work and what u will be graded on.
so when i wuz reading the cyllabus i was so like u have got 2 be kiddin me. but i kno that i have 2 write in i will do it my way.
but OMG, remember that u have 2 write in english !
that means proper puncuation , spelling; n nething else. so nvm the crazy txt talk or IM with my freinds. That iz SO lame. but thats what I have 2 do i guess. lol.
btw, it wouldnt b good 2 put this off 4 2nite as if u hand this in i b all like wtf n u will fail it 2moro. 🙂
See how silly that is?
The amazing part was how many items were picked out by the students. Even the smallest errors were figured out by someone. I loved it! I then, always, followed that up with noting that if these items were in a paper, it would be an automatic F. I wouldn’t tolerate it because it’s not an acceptable way of writing, especially in a college paper.
After we did a day or two of grammar, I gave a quiz. One of the questions is as follows:
What will happen if a student uses the following “words” in a story: u, r, 2, u’re, etc.
- points deducted
- Given a star for good work
- Fail the paper
- A high five
People actually got it wrong. Seriously.
Considering I didn’t teach a class this past semester, why do I bring this up now?
Because I’ve seen it more and more in posts on Facebook. On Twitter. On blogs.
Everywhere.
It’s ridiculous. Some of the people I’ve seen do it on Facebook are educated people. I don’t use these things anywhere. Not texting. Not on Twitter. Not on Facebook. I’ll use a “hahaha” or a smiley in an instant message, but it’s hard to convey how you feel or if you are laughing in other ways.
It’s lazy and it looks stupid.
Facebook is the worst offender. To a point, I can understand on Twitter with it being 144 or fewer characters. But even then… do more than one Tweet! Texts just make me scream. There are some reporters for big papers I follow who do it in Tweets, however, and it drives me nuts.
So, I’ll end with this — srsly ppl, think b4 u rite silly things n look all stoopid. That wuld b gr8. K thanx bye.
OK, I’ll get off my soapbox now.
Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.