Cell Phones: Text Messaging as a Second Language
Mar 15th, 2010 by admin
Recent news stories have reported a phenomenon that most knew existed: there is a gap in the use of text messaging between younger and older cell phone owners. Reports vary but indications are those 12 to 30 years of age account for 80% of text messaging usage.
Because of the instantaneous nature of texting and the tiny keypads and screens on a cell phone, an entire language has developed around text messaging. For those cell phone owners who do not make use of text messaging, the intricacies of this language can make messages almost incomprehensible. This language is abbreviated for speed and ease of use. It is a rather phonetic language where single letters or numbers may stand for entire words, such as “Y” for “why” or “8″ for “ate”. Vowels may be omitted to further reduce keystrokes, such as “btwn” for “between” and capitalization and punctuation are rare. Acronyms are used for phrases and whole sentences such as “ADBB” for “all done, bye, bye”. Symbols are also common in text messaging language.
Non-verbal communication such as facial expression and tone of voice have been said to express more meaning than words themselves in a spoken message. In any form of written communication this is lacking. This is particularly true in text messaging. Knowing whether the phrase “thts gr8t” (that’s great), is expressing something positive or sarcastic is important when communicating. Texting allows the user to create “emoticons” or “smileys” to add the tone to a comment. For instance, “thts gr8t 
” would give the statement a positive meaning while typing “THTS GR8T” would indicate a shout for excitement.
Because of the uniqueness of the communication, those who do not make use of messaging on their cell phone are at a loss then for understanding or communicating in this texting language: the language of their children, grandchildren, younger co-workers, and many others. Certainly knowing the language of those with whom there is a need to communicate is a tremendous advantage.
Text messaging with a cell phone can offer other advantages that non-users might want to consider as well. Text messaging is less expensive than talk time and allows the user to communicate basic messages without incurring unnecessary expense. Text messaging can also be a great way of remaining accessible without creating a disturbance. Obviously, when taking a cell phone call in a meeting or in a crowded area, all those nearby are disrupted as the call is answered and conversation ensues. With text messaging others are seldom aware that an interruption has even occurred. One other distinct advantage of text messaging over voice calling can be the ease of communicating via cell phone with a person who has hearing impairment.
There are a number of ways to dive into the world of cell phone texting. One method used by many parents is to consult a child who is a habitual user of text messaging. However, for those on their own in the endeavor there are many resources to consult. Online, netlingo.com and webopedia.com provide references to assist cell phone owners in learning the vocabulary of text messaging. Another site, lingo2word.com offers a translator to assist cell phone owners in composing a text message or to translate a text message they receive into plain English. Other sites can assist with texting in other languages such as Transclick.com which, for a fee, will translate text messages in real time. A visit to the local bookstore or to Amazon.com will also reveal a number of reference books that can be invaluable for beginners.
Certainly, use of text messaging can be a challenge for those who are unaccustomed to what at first glance appears to be a more impersonal method of communication or for whom it may merely be a foreign or unnecessary concept. However, learning and using text messaging can certainly open the doors of communication to a broader audience just as learning any second language.
Christine Peppler
http://www.articlesbase.com/cell-phones-articles/cell-phones-text-messaging-as-a-second-language-87366.html
Who hates the 2000's Part I?
It’s about time I said it. This has been the most boring decade since the 1910’s. Everything sucks except the Internet. Americans have lost their culture, they lost it a long time ago. Most of all their lighthearted sense of humor. People value comfort and convenience over style. Time has shown us that technology doesn’t make people smarter. Only fat, stupid, and lazy.
We live in a brand name culture where people care more about their cell phones and what they’re wearing than what they’ve accomplished. In the 80’s people were more independent, they expressed themselves through music and art (good music). Today, most people glamorize about the upperclass, everyone wants to be an upper class snob and break away from who they really are, hence extinction of the middle class.
Society used to hate the rich. They were portrayed as a bunch of old people with no style who wore cheesy suits and ate caviar. Today they’re all that people talk about (especially teenage girls) because they have no culture and they have no culture because they want to be like these people. It’s pathetic.
And the fashion is so ugly. Girls straighten their hair to death and tan themselves within an inch of their lives. People say that kids in the 80’s used enough hairspray to blow a hole in the atmosphere (if that’s even possible / still looks awesome). In the 2000’s girls do enough hair straightening to blow up a power plant. And those stupid Ugg boots, people walk around in the summer like Eskimos and act like it’s perfectly normal because it’s socially acceptable to dress like they’re herding reindeer in July. Meanwhile men favor 1950’s haircuts, waxed chests, and cardigan sweaters and call it manly. And don’t even get me started on those tunics, looks like a pair of fucking toothpicks holding up an umbrella. Did I mention that American’s are fat?
Younger generations walk around like zombies, lost and uninformed. There’s no rebellion. Every time they try to rebel, they’re parents shoot rocks up their ass. They have no culture, no substance. They have no morals. All they care about is clothes and sex. By the way I’m 20, I guess that makes me self hating.
Text messaging has destroyed the English language. Sit down and and have a chat with a teenage girl, bet she can’t go more than 5 seconds without saying the word "like" for every other sentence. Kids can’t even write anymore. The press is down to a 7th Grade reading level to cater to the unintelligent. So much attention in schools and after school programs for nothing. Kids learn from doing things themselves, not having people do everything for them and giving them a thousand second chances.
Feminism has been a social disaster. It’s destroyed the nuclear family. The Suffragettes would be rolling in their graves if they saw what whimmin are like today. Whimmin don’t look or act like women anymore. There’s no fatherly figure in the household. Kid’s are being raised by their mothers. They’re scared and afraid to take risks, they fear everything. They take men’s jobs. All except the dark, dangerous, and dirty ones of course. How convenient. Colleges hand out degrees like Kindergarden diplomas, that’s what they use to climb the ladder. Sure there’s a glass ceiling but large companies can’t refuse hiring them. They sacrifice quality and hire only for sex and race.
Tree huggers run around society lecturing people on how to eat and what to drive in an attempt to sell useless crap to "save the planet" when they have no bare bone scientific evidence that humans are causing any of this. I think it’s a hoax, actually I know it is because like I said before, human’s are greedy, caring sells and when it comes down to it everything’s about money. It should be obvious to anyone that objectively looks at the data that our planet’s climate does change. It changes often, it changes dramatically, and it often changes very quickly. We all know that weather changes, we make jokes about it. Climate is simply weather over time. I’m no paleontologist but the last time I checked the sun is supposed to heat up every now and then. Warmest periods in recent history came around 800 years before rises in CO2 levels. Sometime around the 12th century it was so warm in Europe that England competed with France in wine production. This type of agriculture’s impossible with today’s climate.
Does anyone forget the Industrial Revolution, back then one factory burned more greenhouse gases than New Jersey. Today most people work in office buildings. And if this warming trend’s actually caused by humans, there’s only one thing that could be doing it. Overpopulation. Ghetto types mating like flies and turning the world around them into a toilet. It’s very simple, the more people on this earth, the more resources used, more trash in the dump, more land used up, more traffic on the freeways, less quality of life. Look at China. Only if we could get the Earth’s population down to an ideal 1.5 billion. Here’s
Here’s a solution. Stop having children.
I agreed until you started talking about real issues
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I didn’t have children. There is a big movement in America to stop having children so the cycle of abuse stops with this generation. I agree with you post, in the last days of Christ, the wrong becomes right, I see that a lot more these days. You forgot to mention people who use cell phones in public bathrooms, and people who don’t pay back child support and that cigarette smoking is some how our biggest concern as a nation.
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