This is an old article I posted elsewhere. Opening up my inbox this morning reminded me of it. I had to suffer through four submission queries that all seemed to have been written by a hyperactive 14 year old. So I have come to rally the support of my fellow Gather members against the linguistic plague that is chatspeak.
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A Petition Against Chatspeak
In George Orwell's novel 1984, the government is able to control the minds of the citizenry by systematically reducing the number of words available in the English language. By reducing the ability to use the depth of the English language, Orwell warned, the government would be able to reduce the ability of its citizens to think and reason for themselves. Thus making them easily controlled.
Today, we see this dissolution of our language coming, not from the government, but from the growing use and acceptance of chatspeak in common communications. Once designed solely as a means of quickly conveying ideas in a live chat or instant message environment, the annoying abbreviations have seeped into forums, e-mails, and even more formal correspondence.
I have personally had the displeasure of reading electronic query letters from job applicants that are filled with chatspeak. I have actually heard people use the chatspeak word “lol” in actual, face-to-face conversation. As a publisher, I have received countless queries from writers who construct a query letter in the same incoherent chat babble as they would a forum post.
We must stop this downward spiral into incoherent stupidity!
We, the undersigned, having grown tired of being inundated with countless, incoherent posts that look like a Scrabble™ board threw up, hereby declare that we will no longer tolerate this dissolution of the language. The ability to construct a complete sentence is necessary to both understand information you receive and to convey ideas you wish to share. By allowing chatspeak to seep into common communication, we limit our ability to share complex information with each other. Do we really want to be reduced to a society of people whose only means of expressing pleasure or agreement is to type “lol”? Do we really want to be reduced to a society of people who allow illiterate 12 year olds to dictate how we communicate online?
From this point forth, we will strive to combat this epidemic of regressive thinking before it's too late. We shall no longer accept the lazy-minded notion that chatspeak is quicker and easier, but instead seek to show the users of chatspeak how stupid they really are. We shall correct your grammar in forum posts, return your e-mails unread, and reject your manuscripts with a form letter that says all submissions must be in English, not chatspeak.
Join the rebellion and fight for your right to think in complete sentences with real words before it is too late!
Post below to "sign" this petition, and pledge to fight these idiots who insist on reducing language the least common denonimator!
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Comments: 23
Matt
While chatspeak 1337 speak and all the rest are annoying I just ignore people that use them. It's even easier than ignoring real people. I still consider euphemisms and various buzzwords to be much more damaging both linguistically and mentally. Whereas chatspeak just makes people dumb and annoying, which can be done away with with proper education and a few well placed slaps.
Writing is a craft like anything else. I could build a chair. It's be an ugly chair, because I haven't taken the time to learn the tools or study the craft. So while I might be able to make a chair I'm not a carpenter. Of course people seem to understand when it comes to carpentry, but not when it comes to writing. The long and short being that unless someone takes the time to learn the craft, complete with its associated tools and procedures, they are just someone who writes, maybe they might even some day qualify as an author or creative typist, but it doesn't make them a writer.
"so wen i dont have ne i kno where i can find sum =]"
Now may I start correcting all the spelling atrocities some people commit on Gather, and all their misplaced and missing apostrophes? (Some people semm to do a total reverse of their correct use. GRR!) How about all their subjects and verbs that don't agree?
Can you believe some college freshmen try to use chatspeak in college writing?!
:-)
I think you might enjoy this one
And oddly, when I make corrections and suggestions to non-native English speakers, they are almost always appreciative of the fact that someone offered to help. Whereas when I correct my native speaking "peers" (cough cough) I get screamed at and accused of trying to "stifle their creativity."
My kids actually say "OMG" at each other, because they know they're not supposed to say the full phrase. As if I don't know what it means! I always call them on it.
I do suspect that some of the problem is that grammar and spelling aren't really taught that much or that well anymore, so a lot of native speakers don't really know many of the mistakes they're making, and cover up with bluster.
Not that that excuses U R and its ilk ...