David Crystal on the orthography of text messaging and how, contrary to popular griping, it doesn’t signify the death of written English:
Although many texters enjoy breaking linguistic rules, they also know they need to be understood. There is no point in paying to send a message if it breaks so many rules that it ceases to be intelligible. When messages are longer, containing more information, the amount of standard orthography increases. Many texters alter just the grammatical words (such as “you” and “be”). As older and more conservative language users have begun to text, an even more standardised style has appeared. Some texters refuse to depart at all from traditional orthography. And conventional spelling and punctuation is the norm when institutions send out information messages, as in this university text to students: “Weather Alert! No classes today due to snow storm”, or in the texts which radio listeners are invited to send in to programmes. These institutional messages now form the majority of texts in cyberspace – and several organisations forbid the use of abbreviations, knowing that many readers will not understand them. Bad textiquette.
There’s more from Will Self and Lynne Truss.
That said, I’m one of the people who refuse to use abbreviations in any way whatsoever in a text message. I just like to think that it makes me better than everybody else.
The most bothersome thing is when one attempts to achieve an ellipsis using predictive text. It gives you one of those crude, sideways representations of a face instead. Human civilisation proves itself doomed once again.
That is annoying, as is pretty much anything that involves smileys. So much so that I moaned about it myself not too long ago.