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Improper texting...drives me nuts. Who's with me?

thedeejay

thedeejay

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 16, 2012
1,338
51
Toronto, Canada.
I don't know why but this happens to me during texting, but when people type slang it drives me insane. I mean, I don't mind but sometimes I'm like "goddamn it just type the whole damn word". If it's real bad then I feel like throwing their phone. I don't actually do it but man it does frustrate me. I feel like I'm one of those few weirdos who's like this. You or anyone you guys know like this?

Eg. "Hey, wut yu doing 2night?"
 
I think I hang with an older crowd and most of us text using English words with few abbreviations. Some of the stuff is ok, like TTFN or WTF, but I can understand how this could annoy someone.
 
Don't blame your friends blame the networks. Back when it was expensive to text you had to squeeze a whole lot into 160 characters. This lead to txt speak as my kids call it. The problem is now it's the norm it won't change.
 
I don't really have anyone who types that way. They and I tend to type complete sentences, with an occasional lol here and there.
 
I usually call them, repeatedly if they do not answer the first time, and tell them they must have "butt texted me since what was sent is not English".

The only abbreviations I get now are the occasional lol, wtf, and k.
 
heehee said:
You need new friends.
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This ;)

None of my friends or family text like that.

It was understandable back in the day when texts were limited to 160 characters and no one had unlimited texting, but now that pretty much everyone has unlimited texting, and phones are pretty good about splitting up larger texts and re-combining them on the receiving end, it's just not necessary to type like that.
 
Yes, OP. I'm with you on this. Completely.

Of course, I understand the background (limited space, high costs, hence the development of an abbreviated language which became a new norm) but, speaking personally, I cannot abide it, and shudder at these attempts to massacre the English language.

When writing emails, or texts, I write in full sentences, and make it clear that I expect my interlocutor to respond in like manner. (They do, almost all of the time).
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Yes, OP. I'm with you on this. Completely.

Of course, I understand the background (limited space, high costs, hence the development of an abbreviated language which became a new norm) but, speaking personally, I cannot abide it, and shudder at these attempts to massacre the English language.

When writing emails, or texts, I write in full sentences, and make it clear that I expect my interlocutor to respond in like manner. (They do, almost all of the time).
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Agreed. Even worse, when I was teaching I'd sometimes have students slipping in stuff like that into papers or other work they turned in.
 
ucfgrad93 said:
Agreed. Even worse, when I was teaching I'd sometimes have students slipping in stuff like that into papers or other work they turned in.
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Oh, yes. A heartfelt amen to that.

As did I when I was teaching. Worse, some of them couldn't even see (and would attempt to dispute the matter when their essays were returned to them) that an essay, or term paper, or other work, was not quite the right place to express themselves in such a manner……..ah blissful memories…..
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Oh, yes. A heartfelt amen to that.

As did I when I was teaching. Worse, some of them couldn't even see (and would attempt to dispute the matter when their essays were returned to them) that an essay, or term paper, or other work, was not quite the right place to express themselves in such a manner……..ah blissful memories…..
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Oh my, sounds like a recipe for hypertension...
 
My brain hurts trying to read that.

Though I do use a some shorthand when texting...wknd:weekend, tmrw:tomorrow, things like that.
 
I only use "wtf" and "idk". Most of my friends have smartphones so they type full words, those that don't I tell to do so and they usually do.

I was texting this one girl recently though, and she typed everything correctly except she would type "yu" instead of "you"... for no particular reason! Definitely made me "wtf?" a few times :D
 
Might be a little unrelated but I hate when people keep typing the same word wrong either on text messages or on Facebook, for instance, "with", I hate that one person always says "whit" and another one says "witt"....it drives me insane!!!!
 
mobilehaathi said:
Oh my, sounds like a recipe for hypertension...
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Not really; but, yes, it just used to annoy me. With most computers equipped with some form of spell check these days, to turn in assignments littered with text-speak……was annoying.

However, the blank expressions of utter incomprehension (on some student faces) when I argued against mutilating language were actually funny, at times. Better still, was when I would politely ask them what a particular acronym, or slang term meant, and act as if I was completely unaware of what the term meant. This was to serve the twin function of making them think about how they used language, and to impress upon them that slang is not really appropriate in certain specific settings.
 
I remember 7th and 8th grade doing that, now i rarely use it, maybe an lol to say something is not funny, just because nobody really uses that lingo now.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Not really; but, yes, it just used to annoy me. With most computers equipped with some form of spell check these days, to turn in assignments littered with text-speak……was annoying.

However, the blank expressions of utter incomprehension (on some student faces) when I argued against mutilating language were actually funny, at times. Better still, was when I would politely ask them what a particular acronym, or slang term meant, and act as if I was completely unaware of what the term meant. This was to serve the twin function of making them think about how they used language, and to impress upon them that slang is not really appropriate in certain specific settings.
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Glad to hear it didn't give you too much grief. Turning it into something to laugh and snicker at seems to be the best possible coping mechanism. ;)
 
Gav2k said:
Don't blame your friends blame the networks. Back when it was expensive to text you had to squeeze a whole lot into 160 characters. This lead to txt speak as my kids call it. The problem is now it's the norm it won't change.
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Pretty much everyone I know has realized that phones now will automatically split up texts longer than 160 characters so they actually type in English. I get why people did it in the past, but it is certainly possible for people to learn to text with actual words now.
 
I agree with some of you, I mean "LOL", "WTF", "LMAO", "BRB" and those abbreviations are fine with me. They're universal and make sense but man those other slang/short forms are pretty annoying.

One of my good friends texts like this: "m js sayin that fr fun" for example. And I always tell her that it's driving me insane! Takes me longer to decipher it so it's not really "short" form haha.

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MPclk2006 said:
Might be a little unrelated but I hate when people keep typing the same word wrong either on text messages or on Facebook, for instance, "with", I hate that one person always says "whit" and another one says "witt"....it drives me insane!!!!
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Oh I agree! That drives me nuts too. It's like Hey, that didn't make you any cooler.
 
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