It's bad enough when exams
have to cater to horrific spellers due to their SMS-based vocabulary, but we're doing everything we can to make ourselves believe this latest report simply isn't true. Reportedly, a social analyst in Australia somehow believes that the wide range in spellings in a few popular names is due in large part to the fact that we spend way too much time as a whole conjugating and hyphenating in order to get text-based messages across. Said analyst was even quoted as saying that "the use of a 'y' instead of an 'i' has hit epidemic proportions, as has the use of 'k' over 'c'." Realistically, we're not about to believe the SMS craze is actually affecting children's names en masse, but please, do your next born a favor and give him / her the vowels they deserve.
[Via
textually]
posted Mar 7th 2008 10:25AM
idk my bff jill
What?
?
@Chebwa, bondsbw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nIUcRJX9-o
http://www.lurid.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/idk_my_bff_jill.jpg
GOD THAT'S SO AWFUL.
Thank TiVo I have never seen it until now.
@ Rainier
I remember thats shiz,ROFL til 2moro
MYOB will ya?
Grandma...
IDK, my bff Rose?
oh noes, i kant beleev it. Trys as i might, teh future is fail.
Yes, this is awful. I am still surprised with "tryed" when I see it, but whatever. What we really need are more old English teachers that are willing to pound sense into these people. That would be teh hawtness.
haha, best 1st post ever.
Welcome to Cosco, I love you.
Love "Idiocracy." Your line would be really funny, save for the fact that company's name is "Costco."
You love car seats and strollers?
Sweet.
Luckily, smartphones are becoming more popular everyday. But this isn't surprising. It's very similar to people naming their children after diseases that sound "pretty" because they dont know what it means. Chlamydia for instance? Yeah, true story.
true story or it happened in 'Waiting'?
both.
lol wtf? roflmfao ^-^
I'm sure you forgot a 'bbq' in there somewhere...
kthxbye
Cancer killing our society.
This public service announcement brought to you by the Luddite Council!
Cuz technology is dumb.
omg, xlnt!
With T9 prediction (which requires complete spelling but only one key-press per letter), I'm surprised that people still bother to drop vowels.
Truthfully no one that texts me in my age group drops vowels. Only older people seem to find it necessary.
T9 is horribly, HORRIBLY inaccurate even on modern phones.
@ssuk: what are you talking about?
Press 0 to cycle through options when it gives you the wrong word. It can even learn new words you give it. or you can just spend 5 minutes trying to tap out c u l8r, alig8r with your ABC
T9 is fine once you learn how to use it.
Go to the T9 site and practice up. http://www.t9.com/
Vowel dropping is part of the natural progression of many languages. Arabic, for example, has no vowels at all. It's not that they're not there, it's just that they're not written, because they are implicit. For English, not being a strictly consonant-vowel-pair language, we can't drop all vowels. But we can drop most of 'em.
Did no one else notice behind the name is covered in white, instead of salmon color?
Nonetheless, rotfl@stupidity.
Nice, Torrance where I work. First Mark Fuhrman and now this.
Yeah, I work in an office at the end of the airstrip (Hawthorne side) right near there. Also was born at Torrance Memorial myself. However, I think the certificate is just a photoshop example. ;)
I don't get this 'texting generation' speak. I have a QWERTY phone and don't write texts like a moron. Neither do any of my friends, even if they don't have a keyboard phone. Maybe it's a pre-teen thing?
I do think it is much more prevalent with ~9-12 year olds. When I was young back in the days of AOL 3.0, such spellings were much more common among my friends.
Then they grew up.
I couldn't agree more. With stuff like T9 it's easier to write actual words than txt-lingo. Plus the receiver gets an added bonus of not having to decode your idiocy.
Do remember that in some countries, such as NZ, txts cost 20¢ each unless you sign up for a package (which then charges you 89¢/min for calls), so in order to cut down on the number of concatenated txts you send, some people will drop unnecessary letters. I do that too, even if out of habit. I have never, however, written in txt language for any formal documents, subconsciously or otherwise.
But for some reason I wrote this reply completely in full English...
I'm sorta sick of people who complain about the spelling of any or every word that does not conform to some imaginary universal standard of theirs. Actually I'm only sick of those self-righteous individuals who go from blog to blog to correct the spellings of others. I assume these individuals have an agenda, due to losing in their 3rd grade spelling bee.
Okay, we do need a standard in the basic words that we use to communicate with one another, but does it really matter when it comes to a person's name? Let an individual be an individual. Let parents name their kids the way they want to, even if it includes a 2.0 instead of JR. Let parents be creative with their child's name. But I guess there will always be haters and parents who dont want to stray from the norm.
So I guess I will go meet a Dave, Jack, and Jane tmmrw.
Imaginary standard?
Stay in school kids... stay in school
@phox sense
Ummm, "Jr." You wrote "JR."
zing.
Yes, coming from an offspring of parents who named their child Kris instead of the normal Chris. I do agree to a standard in words to communicate, but not to a universal way of how a name should be spelled.
Naming someone Kris isn't exactly the same as removing all the vowels in a word...just because you want to be cool. Kris is a spelling that has been around for many, many years.
You'd have an arguement if the person was named Chrstphr...in this case, his name is a variance, not a complete disregard to naming your kids with respect.
Sorry Bozo but those imaginary standards are the only reason you can understand what people write. Teachers are doing kids a favor by flunking them for using l8r instead of later. You want to be taken seriously, learn the flippin language.
Why not just write "a45skejr hwehwy kuyse uuxye" to say this coffee is hot? Well you'd be instantly ridculed for starters, second no one would understand and you'd be illiterate. But hey, if that's the way you want to roll go for it who am I to stop you?
I'm no grammar nazi, but I'd like to be able to convey a message and actually qualify for a job that pays more than minimum wage.
@ericthebikeman:
"Okay, we do need a standard in the basic words that we use to communicate with one another"
Please read my whole comment before replying next time. Comprehend the fact that I said the comment about the "universal standard" out of just anger with the "spelling nazis".
Loser. Learn to spell and quit getting angry when people correct you.
"Comprehend the fact that I said the comment about the "universal standard" out of just anger with the "spelling nazis"."
Whoa, reading that sentence is like riding a roller coaster!
Well I don't know if the spelling of that name on the birth certificate is wrong for whomever or not, however, if I am correct the name should be spelled like this...
1. Incorrect use of upper/lowercase = JNTHN MCKLRY.
2. Correct use of upper/loser case = Jnthn Mcklry.
Example 1.
Credit cards, SS cards, driver license, paycheck, any letter=bills and or bills with your name on it, are all spelled in upper case.
Example 2.
Your birth certificated, junk letters=non legal/no bills, The way you were taught to write YOUR name in school K-12 are written with the first letter of your name capitalized and the rest of your name in lower case.
Just look in your wallet/purse and then look at your mail when you get home or even your birth certificate... Interesting!
Damn, I've met some people that hate English and I'm no fan myself, but I think you take the cake. Never heard anyone go so far to call it an "imaginary standard". Since you're not a fan of those, could I have all your imaginary fiat currency and we'll call it even?
phox sense: Kris is the diminutive form of names beginning with "Kris" or "Chris". Like Kirsty, Kristian, Kristin, etc. It's not a new name by any means and out dates phones by a good few centuries.
@phox, Why do names need to be spelled in a "normal" way? I see nothing wrong with my name. In fact, you could say I'm named after a weapon rather than an alternative way of spelling "Chris".
@ssuk, Thanks, all girls names :(
Apparently dictionaries are imaginary now. Awesome. Stay in school.
@phox:
Regarding your second comment (in the replies), do you not find it ironic that you are complaining about "imaginary standards" with regard to English usage, yet then calling others out for not "comprehending" your point?
Here's a hint: if you want people to comprehend you better, try brushing up on some of those imaginary standards you hate so much. You've just demonstrated why they exist.
The language came before the rules. Just throwing that out there.
My name is Kris,
and im a guy,
were my parents wishing for something else??? :(
My name is Kris too, and I'm also a guy. But my full name is actually 'Kristofer'.
I don't get it. It really isn't hard to differentiate "real life" spelling/grammar/vocabulary with their texting counterparts. Could this be a case of lazius maximus?
And society continues to fall even further...
Nzpeak 1984++
Oh, wait... Texting kids will think that's related to their big brother/sister/(parent?)'s birthday.
Glad someone mentioned it. Orwell was right...he just missed the boat by a few decades. With the dogged determination of the lazy, the texting generation slowly works toward a world devoid of grammar and spelling rules. The government needn't interfere, we've got kids with sore thumbs willing to destroy the language! Of course, the government plays its part with inane euphemisms/re-naming for all manner of issues (IEDs used to just be bombs, enemy soldiers/fighters/guerillas have become insurgents, etc).
My little cousins misspell everything in their emails, yet both of them attend world class universities. When I mention their horrendous spelling they belch back, "Its jus email." [shudder] Firefox checks the spelling of everything one types, so I can't comprehend how people can consistently send emails riddled with errors.
Is it fun to destroy a language or whittle it down to a handful of verbs and grunts?
I'm following this example:
http://bobbytables.com/
Naming my kid with a sql injection string.
Or a name that can only be written through the use of extended ASCII characters...
-ßΣπ
I don't know my Best friend forever, Jill?
LOL that first poster is funny.
This sort of reminds me of ebonics. Remember; late 80s to mid 90s, a handful of people were going on talk shows and such espousing how they should not be "forced" to conform to English speaking norms. They were constantly using "be" instead of "are", for instance ("We be confident it going to be accepted") to drive the point home. I hear as much about this these days as Esperanto.
As normal keyboards become the norm on phones (e.g., iPhone) and people move into a business environment it'll fade.
(Flame on.)
Stupid [expletive deleted] head little kids. Using 'text speak' on an English exam is [expletive deleted]. Anyone speaking or writing in that manner needs to be slapped, regardless of what medium they are using. These kids are going to be morons.
"Whoa! Letters like 'u' and 'r' can mean words like 'you' and 'are'!"
You want to know the worst of them. I have a friend who doesn't like to type out words, even though he has a QWERTY keyboard on his phone. He told me to "cum" over to his his. I told him that the next time he tells me to "cum" over anywhere, I am going to punch him in the face...
^ I meant to say "his house" not "his his." Sorry
I always make a dirty joke whenever somebody misspells come as "cum." It's usually a lame joke. It makes people stop doing it around me.
"is due in large part to the fact that we spend way too much time as a whole conjugating and hyphenating in order to get text-based messages across"
NO u idiots, text speak is preferred because
i)takes relativly less time and effort... les tym n efrt!!!!!
ii)why the hell should u write "h" in "ghost" anyway??
iii)it does not take a genius to decipher txt spk
nw go2 hell !!!
I hope to God you are being sarcastic.
@ lke-- No, as long as ppl can understnd u- speak whatevr u want!
Then I'll choose to not understand you from now on I suppose.
"ii)why the hell should u write "h" in "ghost" anyway??"
cos there is a difference in the way you speak out ghost and gost?
do you pay any attention to what comes out of your mouth?
"i)takes relativly less time and effort... les tym n efrt!!!!!"
If you hadn't written the English version of that before the foreign version, it would have taken far longer for me to comprehend what you were typing. It may be easier to type if you didn't learn how to type correctly (point and press with 1 or 2 fingers rather than using 9 or 10 fingers and the home keys) but it is much harder to understand sometimes.
@ Jack
Your response doesn't surprise me in the least bit. You are one of many people that fail to comprehend the relationship between knowledge, effective communication, and intelligence. Additionally, you seem to lack any sort of logical ability to understand the composition of the English language, as evidenced in your claim that there is no difference between "ghost" and "gost" (pronounced "goe-st" and "gah-st," respectively). Lstaly, the hmaun bairn deos not raed ecah letetr of a wrod. It atcs mcuh lkie a cmopteur's cahce: it sotres gerahted ifromantion so taht it can ehnacne cpreomhensoin. Therefore, reading and writing in "SMS speak" makes it harder for the brain to understand, especially given the importance of these things called "vowels."
Thanks for playing, go back to grade school.
Good lord, kids are actually getting dumber every year.
@Zak
Don't assume most of us are morons. I'm 14.
However, the OP IS a lazy moron.
and I thought the birth of the baby boomer's was the first indication of the fall of man kind. Now I have to rethink the premise. Now I am thinking it is the advent of cell phones and SMS. Oh well, I thought we might tie the record set by the dinosaurs for being on this planet. Now I doubt it....
If anyone actually bothered to RTFA, you'll see that the reporter arbitrarily assumed that it was SMS that had led to the unusual names, but there is no proof of that. If you look at the names mentioned (e.g. "The name Lachlan had five other versions - Lochlyn, Lochlin, Lochlen, Lochlain and Lauchlan.") you find that people are just getting creative with their spelling, NOT dropping vowels.
I don't think this has anything to do with SMS.
There's a fine line between "being creative" and "doing it wrong", isn't there? Or as David St. Hubbins said, "it's a fine line between stupid and clever." I suppose in the end parents can name their kids whatever they want, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. Alex-Zander? Bwahaha.
Putting aside the whole texting argument, the misspelling of kids' names is something that's made me laugh for years now. Stupid parent thinks that by calling their kid Britni or Kristi they're showing their own individuality and creativity while simultaneously giving their kid a leg-up in life by helping them stand out.
No. You're actually marking your kid for life as coming from a ghetto trash family and condemning them to a life of having to spell out their name every time they tell it to anyone.
It would be interesting to see a comparison of kids' names against parent's education or income level or age. I doubt many college graduates call their kid Crystyna
That would be very interesting to see. I wonder if anyone has done a study like this?
Whenever I see a name like Britni, I picture her mother being a former sorority girl/cheerleader, married to a man who does alright for himself (not necessarily rich, but doing alright), and dumb as a rock.
Amen about the names. My poor wife has what we call "a stripper name." Her mother smacked her with a double-whammy by ending the normal Y of the name with the letter E...twice. Her mother and father both have master's degress and appear to be normal. But they decided for no apparent reason to hit their daughter with an atrocious name, PWT stripper name.
A study of social-economic relationship between naming children was discussed and reported in the book Freakonomics. To sum it up, the name of the child tends to reflect the economic situation of the parents at the time of naming.
Lgnaauge is a vuirs
Welcome to Alfred Bester's 1953 classic The Demolished Man, with characters like Duffy Wyg&.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demolished_Man
come on man, we living in the evolving civilization(not the super civilization yet.)
I think the excessive use of repetitive characters is inefficient and slows down our productivity.
Look at the radical transformation of Traditional Chinese to Simplified Chinese, it worked so well.
Simplifying the English will help us to type faster and read faster.
Here are some ideas:
Faster -> fastr (I don’t think the ‘e’ ‘o’ ‘u’ after before the ‘r’ makes any difference)
Colour -> color -> colr (I just shrank 30% of the read, ie: shrink 3 pages of reading into 2)
You – Yu (what difference does the ‘o’ make? )
Successful->sucesfo (successful is really slowing us down, it kills trees by using repetitive ‘c’ and ‘s’)
ing -> n (watching->watchn, reading - readn)
is/are - > is (unify them, ie she is, he is, you is, )
I tkink the internet age really brot us many good things; but some old/closed minded people just cant acept that. But who cares, the future generation wil rul da world
"Here are some ideas:
Faster -> fastr (I don’t think the ‘e’ ‘o’ ‘u’ after before the ‘r’ makes any difference)
Colour -> color -> colr (I just shrank 30% of the read, ie: shrink 3 pages of reading into 2)
You – Yu (what difference does the ‘o’ make? )
Successful->sucesfo (successful is really slowing us down, it kills trees by using repetitive ‘c’ and ‘s’)
ing -> n (watching->watchn, reading - readn)
is/are - > is (unify them, ie she is, he is, you is, )"
Why not just:
Faster -> fastr -> fstr
Colour -> color -> clr
You – Yu -> U
Successful->sucesfo -> scsfo
ing -> n (watching->watchn, reading - readn) -> just leave it off entirely. Or wait.. js lvt f ently
is/are - > is (unify them, ie she is, he is, you is, ) -> So to use this "Is you going to the store"? No, but IS you a moron?
to: Ike skelton
you are an idiot.
what is fstr? Fstr can mean so many things: fister, fester, foster. thats why i suggest fastr.
your stupidity is proven once again when you suggest: clr, scsfo.
Think before you speak.
"Fastr colr yur son (or sun) 2 b sucesfo pic"
Yeah exactly - WHAT?
It would take the person reading your message longer to understand it then a properly typed out one.
And no: NOBODY will use the same abbreviations, that'll help confusion among the "nwr gen"
And if you want to ramble on about "bt thts nt t idea u only us a few wrds" then go ahead - the sentence should be easy to understand even if the whole thing was abbreviated.
Not just "Old/closed" minded people hate your way of spelling. I'm a teenager and would love to see you have to type out sentences properly (I think we have a new form of torture)
The future generation, if they choose to talk in text and try to apply it to the working environment, will not rule the world; unless you consider ruling the world from the back of a garbage truck or as a cashier at Wal-Mart.
actually a lot of people are using it: news paper reporters, internet age people. closed mind people still can't accept the fact the shortening the words is more efficient and more productive. would you use twenty or 20?
20.
But as always you get to a point where you have to shorten things
9602 is a lot simpler then writing nine thousand six hundred and two.
Also, 9.01x10^17 is easier to write then 901000000000000000 and has less room for errors.
jd you proved my point dumbfuck.
I am actually going to encourage my generation to accept this new standard of language. That way, there will be much less competition when it comes time to apply to law school...
"k" should replace "c".
"C" is a useless letter, whose job is already performed by either the "s" or "k". I think we should make the language more fo'netik. The only challenge is to make additional separate vowels for both short and long sounds. (And don't quote that famous Mark Twain quote. It's full of errors to try to make its point that fo'netik spelling is a silly idea --- which it is not.)
You'd have to find a new symbol for the sounds "c" makes in konsert with other letters, spesifikally "ch"...
agreed.
The way I envision the perfect English Phonetic language, every sound would have its own letter. There would be no phonetic rules where combination of letters make entirely new sounds. So for example there would be no "ch", "sh", or "th" letter combinations. Those sounds would need new letters dedicated to those letters.
Since there's no need for "c" because "s" and "k" have it all covered, perhaps "c" should make the "ch" sound. So to spell "church", you'd spell it like "curc".
(I'm not so strong on my vowel sounds. In the previous example, the "u" almost sounds like it has a short "e" sound, so "church" may actually be better spelled "cerc".)
TGIF?
Can we exterminate that whole generation and start over, please?
No way. Just some. How about a test or background check to see if they are worthy of living?
I say let people do what they want. What is funny though is the image that engadget has used is a birth certificate from 1999. Was the texting 'craze' big enough then to warrant people spelling names like this, or is the cause something other than texting?
This from those that don't use a Z but put Us wherever they feel like.
I'm assuming Jonathan's parents were requesting a reprint of his birth certificate. I don't recall doing a lot of text messaging back in 1999. At least not in epidemic proportions.
Did no one ever hear of shorthand? Secretaries used to use it when taking dictation. Or ever see a court reporters typewriter? It uses a simplified syntax as well.
Point being, other shortened syntaxes have existed for years. But they haven't ruined the republic just yet.