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How do you Text?


Preya_M

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I also try to use correct grammar when I text. Sometimes, I use a shortcut for commonly used words, example “u” instead of “you”. I have a friend who uses so many shortcuts that on most occasions I call her to understand some of her texts. It is a nightmare chatting with her. Most people are in such a hurry today, that they damage a beautiful language.

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:doubtful: I try to use correct spelling and grammar, but may use text-speak when a typo leads me that way.  I am a professional writer who attended the College of William and Mary in the late 1960s and try to always use correct-speak unless trying to make a point.  :amazed:

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I absolutely can't take texting. I find that children today are lazy with their grammar and English because of the text and short messaging.

Words that were once meaningful are now altered to suit the slang for cellphones and if kids are not reading then the grammar will definitely go.

I dont really enjoy texting I would rather visit someone but when I do text I make it short and sweet but with full English words. I have used lol once or twice, shame on me!

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This reminds me of a graphic I saw on Pinterest, paraphrased a bit but the essence of it was "It's BEFORE, not b4. We speak English, not bingo." Apparently it really gets on some peoples' nerves ;). I don't text all that often compared to a lot of people, so maybe that's part of why it doesn't bother me/really come up on my radar that often at all. When I do text, I try to text in full sentences with proper punctuation, but occasionally if I'm in a hurry I'll use shorthand. Appropriate shorthand, though, like you would taking notes or something- not speaking in bingo ;).

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Sometimes when I'm texting quickly, things fall out like a stream of consciousness and I may miss a comma or two. But I never resort to shortened language, except for common abbreviations like "lol", and "brb". Other than those, I absolutely despise how the language as become degraded in text speak, and people think it's acceptable.

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I only text in shorts when I'm in a hurry or busy at work. Otherwise, I'll always stick to full sentences and stay grammatically correct. I feel that if I use shorts too much, it'll affect my ability to write in other mediums as well. Many youngsters struggle to contruct a proper sentence these days because of this.

I'm much like you! As much as possible I avoid using shortcuts when sending SMS. So yeah, I only make an exception if I'm in a hurry. While I understand the need for shortcuts, I actually prefer spelling out things. I'm often teased for being old school because of it.

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I used to text using formal sentences, the style that is usually found in compositions for English class or formal papers. However, I've recently begun to use a much more informal style that leaves out capitalization for the sake of creating a more casual conversation because I think the former makes you seem too stiff. Since switching, I've become more aware of people who text formally and I have begun to realize how awkward it sounds, especially in an environment where colloquial English, and the even more casual "texting lingo", has become the norm.

Despite my recently acquired reluctance to use proper capitalization, though, I still strive to maintain proper grammar unless I specifically intend to not use it for comedic purposes.

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I never use shortcuts. It just doesn't feel right. I have friends who use shortcuts a lot and I have come to understand what they're saying without a problem. What I don't like is when one doesn't use punctuation. I hate reading a block of text without a single punctuation at all.

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I'm kind of middle of the road. I'm relatively proper when texting, but when texting friends, I sometimes text creatively/expressively, spelling words phonetically (how I pronounce them), just for fun. But I'm VERY big on punctuation (commas, periods, ect, in their proper places).

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  • 3 weeks later...

I use shortcuts and I don't use punctuation while I am texting.

For example, "How re u today" , "Im fine".

I think it is more convenience and people actually understand it .

What do you guys think about this?

Well it kind of depends on who you are texting to. I had a period where I didn't use punctuation too, together with shortcuts, though I forced myself to use proper grammar again in texting, since I don't like the idea of losing my grammar skills to something ridiculous like texting, as a lot of people do.

The grammar level of a lot of people I know has notably decreased when they started texting, and I don't want that to happen to me.

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I personally ate shortcuts. They look bad and make things harder to understand. I feel like people who shortcuts tend to be lazy. I speak three languages and with all three I try to avoid shortcuts when texting.

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  • 9 months later...

When I was in high school, I used text shortcuts a lot because that's how my contacts texted me also. I used shortcuts specially when I'm typing long text messages. However, since I started studying in college I have been using proper English whenever I text. I have been conscious of using upper & lower cases, punctuation, spelling, etc. This is mainly because I was studying Bachelor of Arts, Major in English back then. :D And now, it bothers me when I receive text messages with shortcuts. It's like an eyesore to me! :lol: 

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I always text using full sentences + good punctuation, grammar & capitalization myself. I don't think I've used those 'shortcut' words like u and the like, I actually find them rather cringey. It bothers me when people do it, mostly because it makes me start questioning them, whether they actually want to talk to me or not. Because in my mind if they actually want to talk to me then they'll put their effort into their replies, not just write a bunch of shortened words that sounds like animal sounds when you read them out loud.

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I used to send text messages before with shortcuts because of the limited number of characters allowed and I do not have the patience to compose long messages. I thought the shortcuts were made to make it more convenient little did I know that I was slowly forgetting the right spelling of words and decided that I should be doing it the right way.

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I also text with proper grammar and spelling.  I hate when I see numbers replacing words or abbreviations that never existed before.  Personally, I dislike "text language".  However, part of me thinks that at some point it actually may replace our current incarnation of English just as contemporary English has replaced Old English.  People have already been saying things like, "OMG" and "BFF" for years.  Isn't that how it starts?

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I text the words in full, and as much as possible, I avoid using shortcuts.  It also depends on the people I text as well, If the people I'm texting are parents, relatives, or work colleagues, I will definitely avoid shortcuts.  If the message is quite long, I will have to choose which words will have to be shortcut so I can text smaller words without changing the meaning of what I'm trying to say.

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  • 2 weeks later...

When I had a small Nokia phone that could was hard to press, I used shortcuts. Now I don't have any excuse for that and would like to express myself accurately so I use full text. In more recent times where language has really evolved through social media, I would sometimes cutoff some words like "probs" instead of probably or something like that. I am annoyed when people use sticky caps though especially when the person texting is a full grown adult. I feel like they haven't gotten past their 12-year old Myspace self :laugh:

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  • 7 months later...

I would say I use a mixture of both. Sometimes I write full sentences and other times I use "shortcuts" or "text slang". I am definitely a fan of emojis and they make their way into my texts quiet frequently. I try to use proper grammar as a common courtesy for "texters" I know that prefer it. 

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I generally text using proper English, with good grammar, spelling and punctuation but it depends on whom I'm speaking with. I sometimes use the shorthand method but I try not to overdo it because not only do the readers get frustrated but I also feel dissatisfied having to look at too many unnecessarily chopped up words. <_<:lol: I tend to only use shorthand texting with my peers though or if I'm really comfortable with the person I'm talking to. 

In the initial stages of texting someone more so if we just began texting, I always use full words and sentences. It comes naturally to me to do this but I still want to leave a good first impression because sometimes we judge each other so quickly by appearance and speech. However, if they respond using a more comfortable style and I feel that I'm cool with that then I might switch to using that tone also. I must say though that I don't always feel like typing out all words fully especially if I'm talking to persons who definitely understand my text language.

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I tend to use as perfect grammar and punctuation as possible. On occasion, I'll use a shortcut, but only when I'm really busy or I just don't feel like typing. I used to use shortcuts all of the time, but after a while, I noticed my ability to spell had really started to go down hill. Also, my father encouraged using good grammar and spelling while texting, so I eventually reverted back to my good grammar and punctuation methods. I am known for dropping periods at the end of sentences, though.

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  • 1 month later...

I never use shortcuts.
I hate them, they make the whole SMS unreadable.

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Another thing I find with some texters is that I don't know if it's a case of them honestly not knowing how to spell or how to apply correct subject-verb agreement or they just don't care about all that anymore. If you're not careful. you might get caught up with the shortcuts and lose the knack of speaking and writing proper English. I cringe everyday because of so much improper grammar and spelling.

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