For most of us text messaging is as much a part of everyday life as brushing our teeth. (Well, we hope it is!) Most of you will have resorted to substituting you for u, or to for 2, at some time. There's few better ways to get your message across in record time.
Texting and the inevitable use of 'txt spk' has come under fire in the past for dumbing down the English language. Particularly when it came to education and teaching, there seemed to be a genuine fear that we were hurtling towards an uncivilised future where vowels were disregarded, and 'proper' English was wickedly abbreviated by the questionable editorial judgement of the SMS generation.
But as mobile technology moved on, so predictive text increasingly became the norm. And while the airwaves were buzzing with impeccable spelling, something new and exciting was happening: the Book/Cool trend.
Predictive text isn't perfect, so when you write 'cool' usually the first suggestion given to you is 'book'. If this happens enough the meaning of 'book' gradually changes to adapt to the technology, not the other way around. As The Times says, it's easier for texters to reinterpret the meaning of a word than hit the options button repeatedly.
This evolution is being led from the front by teenagers and it's fascinating to see the profound effect technology can have on shaping written communication. Indeed, some linguistic experts say this inventive approach to language requires a high level of literacy in the first place. We like this new way of thinking. After all, if you don't know the correct meaning and spelling of a word, you're not going to be able to change its use very effectively.
Will these new words stay with us in the future? Will they become a permanent fixture in how we all speak? Or will they be dropped and forgotten?
At The Feed we think some words will stick as slang terms, but not permanently. What do you think?
Image courtesy of Leonard Low.
