I H8 TXTSPK - UPDATED!

Why do people find it so hard to spell correctly? I can understand the odd typo, or accidental lack of spaces, commas, or other punctuation, but to be deliberately and maliciously lackadaisical about basic spelling is inexcusable. Especially since all word processor software includes spell-check!

I recently had an email wherein I was given an address which was spelt incorrectly. This is information to which this person is exposed on a daily basis in road signs, and even his own mail, and he got it wrong!

This leads me to one of my pet hates: SMS-speak (aka txtspk). Why all the hostility towards the poor vowels? As far as I’m concerned, it’s just laziness. Not to mention that I find it extremely rude and insulting. Why don’t I warrant the respect of properly constructed communication? And yes, I do always form my SMS’s in full, thank you. Just because you don’t respect me, doesn’t mean that I won’t respect you. See? I’m better than you.

This would better prove my point if "feeble" were spelt correctly!

From Wikipedia

Welsh journalist and television reporter John Humphrys has criticized SMS language as "wrecking our language". The author cites ambiguous examples such as "lol", which may mean "laughing out loud", "lots of love", or "little old lady" depending on the context in which it is used. Humphrys describes emoticons and textese as "irritating" and essentially lazy behavior, and surmises that "sloppy" habits gained while using textese will result in students' growing ignorance of proper grammar and punctuation.

David Crystal has countered the claims that SMS has a deleterious effect on language with numerous scholarly studies. The findings are summarized in his book Txtng: the Gr8 Db8. Despite scholarly research to the contrary, the popular notion that text messaging is damaging to the linguistic development of young people and to the English language itself persists

I am firmly of the opinion that “textese” will destroy the average person’s ability to effectively appreciate the beauty of language. What would the Lords of the Rings be like if it was reduced to abbreviated, practically nonsensical, snippets of letters and numbers?

Please stop the mass dis-intelligentising of our race! Spk prply!


UPDATE:


And from the wells of the web:

See? I'm not the only one who finds it annoying!