Ridicules short cut words in E-mails

[cmhs75]

Hey guys, look at this E-mail I got from a friend whom I tried very hard to convince that he writes like a retard but he keeps coming back at me claiming that I come from an unsophisticated background unlike him.

Here is the letter:

i want to ask u: do u hav a cd player in yr car yet ?

And here is the translation:

I want to ask you: do you have a CD player in your car yet?


I don’t mind if someone chats with me like this, although it'll make me sick, but writing all your E-mails like this! This guy needs a lesson about civilization.


How about if you guys try to knock some sense into him by posting what you think here.

 

[NSX~Kleine]

I use a similar writing format - WHEN I'M WRITING IN CODE!
I have a great deal of notes and lists that continually work on while at work, home, or where ever I happen to be.
Because many of my marks are visible to others around me, I had to find a system to keep people from reading them.
It is extremely effective at keeping people confused, and out of my stuff.
Here’s and example (translations in red):
$3.6 A OT-O X (KuhphuldorsGrouwndKiytMegaree-us)
03-06 AM Autocross (don’t forget Cup holders, ground kit & Megarius)
$3.6 P Hin (Poss)
03-06 PM Hot Import Night (possibly)
TTD $3.1 - 3.6:
Things To Do 03-01 through 03-06
OdiowBoohkurldEnturhpriyzPahkPrezuhnt
Audio Book World, [rent from] Enterprise, Pack & [get] Present
$3.12 nooown St. P'daiz w. MM
03-12 St. Patrick’s Day Lunch with My Mother
$3.12 P Vahygus
03-12 PM drive to Las Vegas
$3.13 11/00 A J&J wed.
03-13 11AM Joe & Jen's Wedding!

Insane enough for you!
Tell your friend not to be lazy (if it were my friend I would use the word ignorant, but that’s just me).
Yes, people do utilize that format - however...
It is to make sure that others around NEVER UNDERSTAND

 

[wctsao]

I never understood why folks do that. I would just let it go. Its not worth your time.

 

[NSX~Kleine]

Not worth whose time?
The time it takes to write short hand, or the time it takes to try to explain to someone how irritating it is?

 

[Ojas]

Well, he did save 5 keystrokes by using his shorthand, but added 18 with the unnecessary "i want to ask u: " in front of his question.

 

[nsxtasy]

We convey who we are in our writings. Everything from our vocabulary, to our spelling, to our grammar, reflects on our language ability, our intelligence, and our educational level. Those with poor vocabulary and/or spelling and/or grammar sound uneducated. The use of such abbreviated spellings sounds exactly the same as any other misspellings - it conveys a lack of education/intelligence, and a lack of sophistication. Thus, each of us has a conscious choice, between learning proper language usage, or using abbreviations that make us sound uneducated.

I would suggest an exception for those for whom English is not their native language, since it can be assumed (whether true or not) that their ability in their own language is greater, and knowledge of a second language (or more!) is an accomplishment in and of itself.

 

[sjs]

I'm just as annoyed by that as some of you, but let's not confuse it with language ability, intelligence, or educational level. That's as erroneous a generality as you will ever find because it completely ignores the influence of culture, fads, trends, whatever you wish to call it, particularly on children and young adults. Even "sophistication" is a bad choice of words but at least it does not make assumptions about one's intellectual capacity or educational level.

 

[huckster]

well, it sounds a little high brow, but ive gotta agree with nsxtasy.

ive met some pretty bright people who are inarticulate, and their message usually gets lost.

With all the people who strive and struggle to become literate, I've never understood why some people strive to appear illiterate.

 

[4AU4LIFE]

I'm just as annoyed by that as some of you, but let's not confuse it with language ability, intelligence, or educational level. That's as erroneous a generality as you will ever find because it completely ignores the influence of culture, fads, trends, whatever you wish to call it, particularly on children and young adults. Even "sophistication" is a bad choice of words but at least it does not make assumptions about one's intellectual capacity or educational level.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[NSX~Kleine]

The use of such abbreviated spellings sounds exactly the same as any other misspellings - it conveys a lack of education/intelligence, and a lack of sophistication. Thus, each of us has a conscious choice, between learning proper language usage, or using abbreviations that make us sound uneducated.

(sorry this is a long post, however in the common interest of conveying the correct message the extended vocabulary was needed)

I concur.
Over the years I have become increasingly aware of written language, namely my own. In the past I have kept little or no regard for the appearance of my bad grammar and extreme lack of basic spelling ability. However the ability to apply 'i before e except after c' never factored into my honor scores in advanced debate while in school. My disregard for spelling never factored in when my reading scored were off the charts from 4th grade on.
It wasn’t till well after highschool and even after college that the perception my written communications caused me some concern. So much concern even, that I have made a concentrated effort to modify and correct them every time I took pen to paper (or fingers to keys - as the case may be).
Yes, the lack of effort and or knowledge of grammar do hold weight.
The years of criticism I withstood were on deaf ears.
Nothing you say to your friend will change his behavioral patterns. He will change when he is ready, or when he is tired of being judged (and he IS being judged - as was I)
Absolutely everything I post is sent through MS Word. The response written above contained 10 spelling errors and one grammatical error.

The human mind is a fantastic mechanism. Science has proven (much to the amusement of neurological and literary fans everywhere), the mind will pattern match right around incorrect input before the conscious mind becomes aware of it.
In written form only the first and the last letters need to be in the correct place. As long as the necessary letters are found in between, your mind will show your eyes the correct word.
Hence my profile signature uniting bad spellers.


And yes, MS Word nearly crashed with all my fragmented sentences!.

 

[cmhs75]

It's not about being unable to spell properly, or not knowing the language, that makes people like him spell like that. It's just out right laziness. And I guess it would be OK to use this childish method of spelling from time to time, or receiving it from a pre graduate or an outright bum that has been doing drugs all day long. But when you start receiving all your E-mails from a very sophisticated person working in a very highly ranked organization with this type of spelling (if it can be considered spelling), it starts to become very embarrassing.

You can't walk around picking your nose in the claim that this is normal in your family upbringing. And in the same sense you can't send E-mails with the spelling of a 12 year old on some chat room while you rank so highly in your society.

Some people need to grow up

 

[nsxtasy]

I'm just as annoyed by that as some of you, but let's not confuse it with language ability, intelligence, or educational level. That's as erroneous a generality as you will ever find because it completely ignores the influence of culture, fads, trends, whatever you wish to call it, particularly on children and young adults. Even "sophistication" is a bad choice of words but at least it does not make assumptions about one's intellectual capacity or educational level.

Well, I guess we'll just have to disagree about that. Because to me, it does have a connotation about intelligence and educational level. Remember, this is about perception - the perception each of us feels when seeing something. Perception is an opinion, and thus is neither right nor wrong, it just is what it is. And this is true whether we're talking about abbreviations in an e-mail, or some other fad among young people that is jarring when it appears in an adult world - such as, to cite another example, wearing a backwards baseball cap when dining in a fancy restaurant. It creates an impression in each of us. Maybe an eight year old thinks it's cool. But that's not the perception I get. And to me, those abbreviations make me think of all of the characteristics cited here - lack of intelligence, lack of education, lack of sophistication, lack of maturity (since such abbreviations can indeed be associated with children in chat rooms - remember, we're talking about perception here), as well as the downright laziness that chms75 mentions. Sure, the writer may actually be highly intelligent and well educated - but even if this is true, that is the opposite of the impression that he conveys with his use of those abbreviations. Based on how I perceive it. YPMV.

 

[sjs]

Only now do you bring perception into it. You may have had that in mind initially, but your initial statements are most likely to be taken differently (and obviously were).

Furthermore I would suggest that any such assumption is in itself a sign of limited perception, or outright bias without cause, which is surely the more egregious offense. Not that I'm immune, but I make a conscious effort to stop myself and acknowledge that any such judgment is flawed. I confess that I'm not always successful.

 

[sjs]

It's not about being unable to spell properly, or not knowing the language, that makes people like him spell like that. It's just out right laziness...

I could use a good remote mind reader. What are your rates?

 

[mikec]

Among other things, I am a professional technical writer. My writing style changes depending on the audience for whom I'm addressing.

For the interest of saving space, I would not butcher text when addressing a mixed audience as when I post here. However, when I chat in real time, I use shortcuts to save time. It's sort of the lingo of the moment.

I don't get too excited when I see internet lingo as long as I can understand it. It's bad grammar and spelling that irritate me more.

like the line "I gots a NSX today"

thx for listening. Ur' all gr8.

 

[nsxtasy]

Only now do you bring perception into it. You may have had that in mind initially, but your initial statements are most likely to be taken differently (and obviously were).

Furthermore I would suggest that any such assumption is in itself a sign of limited perception, or outright bias without cause, which is surely the more egregious offense. Not that I'm immune, but I make a conscious effort to stop myself and acknowledge that any such judgment is flawed. I confess that I'm not always successful.

Wow, Steve - seems like you're really intent on trying to flame me about this. I would hope that we could disagree about it without sounding like we are attacking each other personally (which, I'm sorry to say, your posts do, to my ear).

I am not saying that I automatically assume that the person lacks intelligence or education - but that I get the impression that they do. There is a difference. We all make and receive first impressions when we meet someone, or read their writings. Sometimes they are confirmed when we get to know them better, and sometimes they are reversed (although the old adage still holds that "you never get a second chance to make a first impression"). Some of us still keep an open mind as we get to know people, while others write them off by assuming that the impression must necessarily be correct. We could go down that tangent, but that's not the issue here. The issue here, as I see it, is, I just don't understand why anyone would want to make a negative first impression - especially if that impression is not true.

To illustrate the issue better, I would like to ask: Does anyone here get a more positive impression when they read an e-mail full of such abbreviations?

 

[Two Inch Long]

I'll have to disagree

I'll have to disagree with what the majority of the people here are saying. I think using this type of spelling is acceptable as long as the person isn't writing something official or in a formal. I mean using it to communicate with business associates is a big no no, but using it when sending e-mails to friends or chatting online is different. People are more relaxed and type what they want, carefree.

You asking them to stop using shorthand with you is like asking him to stop using slang terminology when speaking with you.

 

[Two Inch Long]

And don't take this personally cmhs75 but "Ridicules" is spelled wrong, its supposed to be "Ridiculous". Everybody makes mistakes and has their own style of writing. It has nothing to do with the level of intelligence.

 

[NSX-Racer]

Two inch long: Regarding your signature - isn't it Martha Stewart and not Stewert?

 

[cmhs75]

And don't take this personally cmhs75 but "Ridicules" is spelled wrong, its supposed to be "Ridiculous".

Damn, now that's an embarrassing one.

But anyway, I have a reason. English is not my first language. But even if it isn’t, I still do my best to write and speak with it the proper way it was meant to be. I'm positive that if I start writing like my friend does, ill end up losing a lot of practice on writing proper correspondence letters.


Constant improvement is something special about humans and I like to practice it all the time. Now, writing like my friend does might trigger a revolutionary new method of writing in English, but what's going to happen to all that literature already written in this writing method. Are we going to see our grandchildren looking at the books we read today like they are some kind foreign language text?

Putting a little bit of extra effort on writing your letters might handicap your time, but you will benefit in a positive way, rather than a negative way.

 

[Two Inch Long]

Two inch long: Regarding your signature - isn't it Martha Stewart and not Stewert?

I guess I’m not very intelligent then. lol
I never really liked that woman anyway. I was just hungry when I wrote that. I don't even think it was her that said it.

Are we going to see our grandchildren looking at the books we read today like they are some kind foreign language text?

I'll have to disagree with you here too. Cause if we talked as our ancestor did, then we'd all be like "here yee here yee, thou shall not eat from thy's pasta". I think "keep your hands off my grub" sound much better.

 

[ajnsx]

I sit back and a hazy recollection of grandparents telling parents to stop speaking that hip 'jive' talk and the only thing that should be 'groovy' is woodwork from a lathe. Ya'll crazy cats, ya dig?

 

[len3.8]

Maybe I'm missing something, doesn't that type of communication usually result when someone is "texting" to another person by use of a two-way pagers & cell phones? Wasn't it formed due to the fact that the person using them would just shorten their terms for the sake of saving time?

I would have to agree with SJS on this one. I also agree with Mike C. Even though I butcher my grammar as much or more than the next person. I have started to pay more attention to it.
Sophistication, isn't that a perception? What's sophisticated?
Are you sophisticated because you dine out instead of eating out?
Are you sophisticated because you have a college degree? Who determines sophistication? Is it by one set definition? What age group, what generation, what social class, sets sophistication levels?

Am I sophisticated because I drive a NSX? Probably not to the guy driving the Aston or the Enzo, Nor to the guy down the street from me with the 30 year old truck, 1500sq ft home, car port, and in excess of 200 million in the bank. He thinks I don't get it.
If I were to live by his standards, then would I still be unsophisticated? I think it's purely an individual’s perception.
I think that people are comfortable with the social norms, when those norms are challenged and they don't understand anymore, they defend the norms. Why? Is it that you they don't or can't understand those that want to try to define something as their own? Are they not educated enough or smart enough to communicate on that level as well? So to denounce it as not the way it's done, really means they aren't trying to understand it, or they simply can't.

I am always amazed at people that try to attach someone’s intellect with the way they speak. So a person that uses sign language is of limited intellect? Limited education?
Maybe I am reading more into it than I should. I just listen when someone tries to talk/communicate with me, if I don't understand I just ask him or her to explain. I hear people that are certified geniuses, speak in ways that would upset plenty of people here.

Please feel free to educate me. I have no problems with learning from anyone.

 

[cmhs75]

You can have your own way of communicating that suits you. But you can't force people to like it. If someone tells you that the way you write your letters is very irritating and gives you the impression that you are talking to a 12 year old that’s addicted to cocaine and porn pictures, you should stop writing in that manner and grow up.

And there is a big difference between making a mistake and purposely doing the same thing over and over again. I make mistakes in spelling and vocabulary. But I don’t insist on them and repeat them all the time. That’s the difference.

 

[len3.8]

You can have your own way of communicating that suits you.

You have made both of our points.