About typing English.

[TheKing]

Most of the debates on other forums have been on the subject of whatever game it is the best character for ssbb, what's the best class in maplestory etc. but this is the only forum that can argue about something so trivial as chatspeak

 

[Kayle]

Most of the debates on other forums have been on the subject of whatever game it is the best character for ssbb, what's the best class in maplestory etc. but this is the only forum that can argue about something so trivial as chatspeak

So let me get this straight.

Your first impression is LESS important than the 'best' character in a video game.

i done been trolled dude! you got me

 

[toxictaipan]

Most of the debates on other forums have been on the subject of whatever game it is the best character for ssbb, what's the best class in maplestory etc. but this is the only forum that can argue about something so trivial as chatspeak

Sir, I would like to thank you for the entertainment you have given me tonight.

 

[GameStoreGrump]

Most of the debates on other forums have been on the subject of whatever game it is the best character for ssbb, what's the best class in maplestory etc. but this is the only forum that can argue about something so trivial as chatspeak

The movement to end chatspeak is serious business! Long live proper grammer!!!!111one!!!

 

[Parco Folgore]

I don't personally type that way, but you shouldn't insult people or call them stupid just because they abbreviate words or spell a few thing phonetically. It seems to me like you're associating stupid people with abbreviated text because that's how stupid people type. It might be annoying, but its really not that diffucult to read, usually. Once you get used to typing with abbreviations and other stuff like that, just like getting used to typing any other way, they can do it much faster and easier.

Call someone stupid for what they have to say, not how they say it.

 

[Box of Fail]

Hey guys, sorry I've had a lot going on, so I realize I have not replied in a timely manner, lol. As always, replies in bold.

A few replies then on to the post:



I agree with you on this point, but I'm reminded of my formidable years and the way I dressed. Yes, I was one of those students in High School who expressed myself with long hair and darker clothing. I understood that people would judge me based entirely on my looks. I expected certain reactions from people by my appearances, and for the most part I was correct. People tended to treat me as if I was disturbed and hostile, which in fact I'm actually pretty pleasant to be around. Was I upset by these reactions? No. Because I expected them. We have a similar situation going on here. Chatspeak makes readers think that the speaker is unintelligent. Should the reader judge the speaker based on their typing skills and mastery of the English language? No. In a perfect world, they wouldn't. We do not live in a perfect world. I agree that judging chatspeak is wrong. I admit that I am guilty of it. But at the very least it should be expected by the speaker.

Oddly enough, I pretty much agree.

Oh but "ravenous" is significantly more powerful than "hungry." Let's take these sentences: By changing one word, suddenly there is a sense of desperation. Just a "hungry man" is not alot to be concerned with. He will probably fish out some food from a stream later. If a man is ravenous, then why is he so hungry? Has he been lost in the woods for days. He must be desperate and ill prepared for his environment.

Hmmm, but emphasizing hungry (i.e. HUNGRY or hunnnggrrryyyyy) could have the same effect without the need for more vocabulary. “Hungry and desperate” could also work, could it not?

Isn't this the same gut-reaction that you are trying to stop? :wink:

Yes; in fact, I was responding to Kayle’s post stating essentially the same thing. People should learn to accept chatspeak, rather than learn to type in proper English.

On to the post:

The biggest area of debate here is whether or not Pokegym classifies as a formal or informal zone. Personally I tend to be more formal on message forums; however, I do understand your argument as to why it is informal.

Please correct me if I am wrong (Which I very well might be.). Your argument is that chatspeak is fine on this particular forum because it is more of a casual place to hang out. We are a group of individuals who share a similar interest in what is marketed as a children's card game. Why should we be formal on a forum that is centered around an informal interest in our lives?

I tend towards formality on this forum, because it is represented to the community as a place that takes this children's card game, and shows the more intricate and complex subtleties hidden within it. Now, there are areas of this forum that chat speak is fine. We are in one such forum now. However, in the Deck Help subsection, I feel that a small bit of formality should be used. I base this on the idea of the readers of that forum. Several of my friends "troll" this forums reading the Deck Help and Card Strategy forums, looking to see what is popular in other parts of the world. Those particular areas should be written in more of a way to act as a reference point and archive.

IMO the deck help forum is actually a shining example of a forum that should not require formality. When writing an article, one should probably address the reader with proper English, but when asking your peers to essentially “proofread” your deck, a rigid formal tone is counterproductive. I believe the Deck Help & Strategy forum is a place to hang and offer tips, rather than an index for trendy decks. That’s what articles are for IMO.

Side Note: You are an excellent debater, and I'm enjoying this immensely. :thumb:

Thanks, and likewise :thumb:

Didn't you say something close to the opposite of this earlier on?

Possibly? Please cite.


I IM and text daily. In fact, I probably send and recieve about 500 texts every week. Some of my friends will drop capitalization and minor particles of punctuation in favor of the slightly improved speed. No one uses chatspeak.

I suppose you don't associate with those who disregard the need for proper English?

Poorly worded posts/bad English is part of the reason I don't go to the DH&S forum anymore.




The "advanced English vocabulary" makes perfect sense to me, honestly. And as clever of a retort as it was, I wasn't kidding. Reading it makes my speed screech to a halt and it's almost painful to keep going and switch gears, only to know I now have to switch back. So you're all into saving time here, aren't I justified in completely skipping over that post so I can keep reading stuff that doesn't slow me down?


Only if people decide it's worth it to learn those words. So much of English is superfluous; of my highly limited ninth-grade vocabulary, I'd say that slightly over half of the words I know are unnecessarily complex and intricate ways of expressing simple concepts.

I would consider Pokegym about on level with a League or tournament. Sure, you can go to those places without showering and dressed like a slob, but everyone's going to be disgusted with you!

If you draw a parallel between showering and typing, I think you're making a mistake. Showering is essential anywhere where there are others (at the very least, others with whom you aren't very closely acquainted, and even then...) - supermarket, sidewalk, school, work, baseball game - doesn't matter. Observing grammatical conventions of a highly deregulated language is far from essential.

GSG's "degree 1" chatspeak is appropriate. You don't have to wear the suit and the tie, even though I like to (metaphorically speaking). But at least come looking nice, ok?


You really should take up Japanese, you would adore it. We're going to teach you hiragana! Write out the verb "to study", which is "benkyoushimasu". That's 8 hiragana. Four months later, we'll teach you the kanji, which is pronounced the exact same way and read with the exact same meaning - and is even considered MORE formal - but only takes up 5 characters: two for benkyou (I think. I haven't actually learned this kanji yet.), one for the verb "suru", and two hiragana for the conjugation of suru.

I'm pretty sure (with my highly limited understanding of Japanese) that the infinitive (the Japanese equivalent of 'to study') would be 勉強する, not 勉強します. I do plan on taking Japanese in fact (and I know the kana, if that counts for anything!). However, Japanese society is VERY different from Western society, and cultural expectations of respect are much steeper.

Japanese don't bother with capitalization or anything silly like that. When using formal language, you don't use any punctuation other than a period (maru) either; "ka" accomplishes question marks, and "yo" basically accomplishes an exclaimation point.

Yeah, but Japanese formal language is even more ridiculous, since you conjugate differently depending on the degree of formality...

I would reply to this a little bit more on-track, but the next statement covers the same point, so...



I note that you fail to address the more important and more aggressive point, which is that you are feeling upset because I am judging "you" based on the perception your rendering of the English language creates.

I'm no communications major, but from my understanding of it, the crux of communication and of a written or spoken message is that you are at the mercy of the interpretation of your audience. No matter how nicely you dress it up, you cannot escape that the reciever of a message is more important than the speaker. The perception trumps the intent, because perception is what is acted upon. You could be the best person to have as a friend in the world; if you talk in slurs and curse a lot and don't take care of your body or your image to look good, because it feels like a waste of your time, you don't have a right to be affronted when everyone else thinks poorly of you. No one will care about what lies underneath that (your message) because their interpretation of you is what they act upon, no matter how sad or misinformed that may seem.

And I'm trying to convince people to make at least an attempt to read chatspeak so they might change their interpretation. That's why we're having this discussion.

If there is an emnity in our society against chatspeakers (which I highly doubt actually exists at a higher level, by the way; it's seeming to become popular as a corporate symbol in some companies), I think it's fairly justified because it's not rooted in the belief that you're stupid, per se - though it's often treated as such - rather, it's rooted in the perception that you do not care to look nice when you address someone.

I also think it has to do with Pokégym's demographics. The kind of people who are willing to put in the extra effort are also the kind of people who go around debating silly points like these (which can be incredibly fun! ). Thus, there is an enmity towards chatspeak that tends to manifest itself on Pokégym, but it may not find favor with the average Joe at the supermarket.

When you introduce yourself to someone new, do you say, "Sup homie!" I certainly hope not. Sure, some people will really like that or at least will be okay with it, and you'll get favorable responses. And to be fair, it's fairly easy to tell most of the time which people those are. But it's strikingly similar to coming into a forum and introducing yourself with chatspeak. You're slurring the language because you feel casual and lazy about it, and you don't know that the other people around you are going to be okay with that - by which I mean, you may well be introducing yourself to people who think patience is a virtue and the extra effort put into typing out your message in full is worth every moment spent on it.

If you are going to introduce yourself to a bum on the street, there are certain cultural expectations for how to introduce yourself. If you’re at a job interview, the expectations are much different. Context will help you make a decision as to what constitutes appropriate etiquette. The setting of Pokégym (which I consider to be informal; I will debate this point further down, but let’s assume for argument’s sake that it’s an informal setting) prompts a more colloquial (less uptight, if you will) introduction. I don’t approve of saying ‘sup homie’ to someone who isn’t your ‘homie’, but I understand the point you were making.

Okay, let's talk about Jacob Lesage. Why do you think P!P lashed out at their brand new World champ? Hmm?

Though I don’t want to delve too deeply into such a sensitive topic, and I personally disagree with OP’s judgment here, Pokémon encourages a kid-friendly, informal setting. The decision regarding Lesage was over something obscene, which is not tolerated in all informal settings. That’s all I’ll say about Lesage; however, with a motto of ‘Gotta catch ‘em all!’, I think colloquialisms are something which the Pokémon franchise encourages.

That's ad hominem and I would hope that you know it. It serves no true purpose to bolstering your argument except to make him look stupid and to make you look like a snob (whoa hey that sounds familiar).

Not to mention, you just repeated his point: practicing something wrong is *worse than no practice (read: practicing it wrong is really, really bad). Typing in chatspeak constantly = practicing English WRONG.

I’ll concede this; it was ad hominem in the strictest sense of the term. However, ad hominem can imply that it exploits an irrelevant aspect of the target’s personal life, and ignores the topic at hand. I simply responded using evidence from his post, and it was well-used to demonstrate that his practice can hinder his mastery of the English language. Really, if you found an inconsistency in someone’s argument in their argument (I realize that sounds redundant, but I think you understand what I mean), wouldn’t you point it out?

This is somewhat off topic, but you're not quite correct. Moar is not chatspeak. It is not a butchering of the word "more". It is actually its own word and it has its own meaning and use - a somewhat sardonic and exaggerated version of its predecessor, but still its own meaning nonetheless.

I’ll concede that I’m not particularly knowledgeable in the ‘interwebz’ culture department, but at the very least, ‘moar’ is used exclusively in informal settings (unless you’re writing about memes); thus, it is plausible that a form of writing found only in informal settings would contain the word ‘moar’.

Related to both the above statement and to the argument at large, though - I do "speak chatspeak" at times. Watch me in a private conversation with one of my close friends, particularly in IM. I use low-degree time savers all the time; I skip out on punctuation where it can be easily implied, for the most part. But watch my texts, also. When I am nervous or concerned, you'll see a lot of "..." and "um...". What a huge waste of time! But I do it specifically to communicate my mood and my emotions, things that are otherwise lost on the viewer of the text (and when you're texting your girlfriend that tends to be kind of important).

’Umm….’ does contribute something valuable to the conversation. It can be used to keep the conversation alive while stalling for time, like in spoken English. In this case, it has no substitute in chatspeak because it is used for the explicit purpose of filling characters, which is the complete opposite of chatspeak.

The chatspeak tends to come in when I'm amused. If you see a sentence typed by me that has lower-case i and no punctuation - and often with screwy words like "moar" or shortened forms like "u" - I'm usually being extremely sarcastic, and doing so to create a humorous impression on those who are reading my words. I haven't used this technique at large, granted, but I have yet to see it totally fail. The fact that I constantly type in 'perfect' English [less mistakes is probably something I would not have caught, even though looking at it I'm aware it's wrong] sets up for that sudden stop and pause of confusion that the poor grammar creates, which in turn forces them to consider the words more; the confusing turns into the ludicrous and the appropriate reaction results. Yes, I do actually think these things through, on some level.

I'm not the only one who does it. Case in point.

I believe I said at some point earlier that these ‘memes’ are often used to mock those who type like this (I understand that it’s in a lighthearted way, at least, in your case). There is something humorous in it if one considers chatspeak an abomination and vandalism of the English language.



I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't find these humorous, since they were making fun of you/your argument specifically, but whatever your reaction was, it certainly was not the same as the one you would have made if someone else, a stranger, had come in and posted the same thing.

In all honesty, I did find these humorous – I’m sure you understand that it was not exactly to my advantage to unnecessarily express my entertainment at your making fun of me
For me, "chatspeak" is a literary device used to create sarcasm and humor. It's a weapon in my arsenal, a tool in my handy box. As a well-versed mechanic/soldier it bugs me to see people using it all over the place like it's some kind of handy fix. Duct tape is a great thing, and you can do a LOT with it, but just because you can doesn't mean you should.

lol @ the link.

As I said before, mockery of chatspeak is a common source of entertainment for some. Don’t you see how some of us construe the sarcastic use of chatspeak as condescension, though?
I'd like to agree with GSG, it's nice to have coherent back-and-forth debate with people sometimes. Makes me have hope for the internet. >>"

Haha, the internet has no hope for the internet. Watch out for 2012!

Whether or not you think it's 'fair' or 'correct', people will judge you by how you type (especially when they have nothing else to go on).

Many will not bother with Box of Fail's 'look at me, I'm EVER so smart' stuff and just see textspeak as being lazy and ignorant. It might bother you what they think, it might not . . . but right or wrong, that's what will happen.

I think the existence of this thread proves that nicely. The reason I’m posting is to hopefully provoke thought and cause people to take chatspeak more seriously.

Box of Fail:

You are extremely misinterpreting my posts and I feel that this is hindering our debate. I can type out my replies in "chatspeak" from now on to eliminate any further confusion if you so require. Please let me know.

I don't think I am - I will respond to what is there, If you say 'then type legibly' and then say that I am misinterpreting your posts by accusing you of calling chatspeak illegible, I think I'm on the money. If not, you didn't word your post correctly.

As a disclaimer, I read the following post in chatspeak before I saw any transliteration. I am quoting the “conventional” edition because I believe the chatspeak was exaggerated and thus I would like my critics to understand what I’m quoting.

Can you not comprehend what you read, child? It's not a point in favor of correct grammar. You say that "chatspeak" is superior to formal English basically because less characters to type = typing less = less time typing. While this is true, I'm trying to say that there are more variables involved than just the number of characters you input. If you were to eliminate all other variables, then yes, "chatspeak" is faster to type than formal English. You're saying "chatspeak" is faster, I'm saying, "Not necessarily." There are far too many other variables involved. I am personally not used to typing in "chatspeak" and so I am much slower at it than typing out full sentences, even though my words contain many more letters than their abbreviated versions.

This has no bearing whatsoever on the topic; if you prefer to type in proper English, I will not try to stop you, nor will anyone else. I’m arguing that those who believe their chatspeak is more efficient than their conventional English should be allowed to type in chatspeak. I’m not trying to make people type in chatspeak if they don’t want to. Let the typist decide how they type. Whatever floats your boat.

Did I seriously just read what I think I read? That's a good point that I was expecting you to use. I understand that reinforcing bad habits only strengthens them. However, if you're implying that continuously repeating just a few mistakes while still practicing mostly correct grammar is actually worse for you than not practicing at all (which will only cause you to forget stuff that you know is correct) I can only conclude that you must be trollin'. I basically read that as, "Don't practice at all if you're going to make any mistakes whatsoever. You will only do more harm than good by repeating a small number of mistakes while otherwise typing properly."

Let’s back up a second. You won’t practice at all? How do you figure that? Practicing grammar is great, but the best way to practice grammar is with peers to correct your mistakes. What good does practice do you if you don’t know when you’re doing it correctly?

That isn’t the point, however. I am not trying to stop you from practicing the language – however much I think there is a better medium through which to do this – after all, why would it bother me that you want to type in correct English? I’d be a pretty black pot if that were the case. Once again, it is none of my business if you’d like to type the traditional way; I’m simply trying to defend the option for those who don’t feel like putting time, effort and dedication into their posts in whichever format they see fit.[/b]

I personally rather have an Achilles’ heel or two than no legs to walk on at all, but hey, that's just me.

If you are suggesting that without Pokégym, you would not ever practice sound English, then perhaps? Somehow I don’t think that’s the case though. You still have those figurative ‘legs’, you’ve just lost the shoes and exposed the heels.



Look, dude. I don't think less of someone because of the way they type, and I'm not a grammar Nazi. I don't mind a few little mistakes here and there. No one is perfect. I can read "chatspeak" and I can type it (albeit slowly). That doesn't mean I have to like it, and that does not mean that it is appropriate for all situations.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but if you don’t want to type chatspeak then don’t. I just want people to have the choice of doing so should they want to (and preferably without the boatloads of condescension such a typing method seems to attract).

I already covered this, dude. If you had actually studied well, you aren't going to fail your test. You aren't going to pass the test unless you know the answers and/or understand the subject (unless you get crazy-lucky at guessing, but let's be serious for a moment). Please take the time to explain how I can get away with passing tests without understanding the subject being tested, because boy, am I missing out! I've been doing it the hard way all along.

As I was responding to someone’s earlier assertion that cramming won’t help you retain the information, I was saying that it is better to pass and not bring an understanding of the subject out of the testing room. Plus, memorizing answers (depending on the class) can be a pretty robotic procedure that might not foster any understanding nor retention of information.

It's your fault because you're in the minority. If everyone is doing something one way and then you decided to do it a different way, and it causes inconvenience (no matter how small) for the other people, how is it NOT your fault?

So Copernicus shouldn’t have theorized that we are rotating around the sun, Martin Luther King shouldn’t have spoken in Washington DC, and the colonists of the New World shouldn’t have refused to be taxed without representation? Being in the minority and deviating from the conventional way of doing things isn’t always bad, even if it inconveniences other people. Besides, I don’t think chatspeak inconveniences most people, judging by how many of them imitate it in condescending jest.

Also, I don't think comparing accents to "chatspeak" is fair. In real life, using your ears and brain, it takes much less effort to understand something than having to decipher it by reading, regardless whether or not you're reading "chatspeak" or proper English. I would wager that the average person reads slower than they hear.
I won’t question that, but readers also absorb more – human hearing is designed to cope with the reality that sounds are forced upon you at whatever speed they come. Reading, on the other hand, is useful because if you missed something the first time, you can go back and reread it as much as you’d like. So, speaking unintelligibly is a lot easier and more harmful to the conversation. Typing so that one cannot understand you is not that easy to do (barring unfamiliar acronyms, which I HAVE seen and they go against the concept of “chatspeak” – to be understood with less effort).

Please excuse my ignorance. I thought that when everyone did something the same way, it was the accepted standard. Clearly, this is not the case. My mistake.

I'm not saying that there is a standardized version of "chatspeak," but that it is standard to omit letters and punctuation in certain situations. Nitpick less, please. I can't even counter your argument that English is a standardized language because that's not even the point I was trying to make.

In a non-formal setting where time is not of utmost importance (like this forum, for example), the accepted standard is to write in English while making as few mistakes as possible. This is how the majority of people in this setting agree to do it. That's what makes it the standard.

In a non-formal setting where time is of utmost importance (texting, instant messaging, etc.), the only thing that matters is getting your message across as quickly and concisely as possible. This is how the majority of people in this setting agree to do it. That's what makes it the standard.

In a formal setting, all rules are to be followed and mistakes are unacceptable. Period.

But if the English language isn’t standard, why is chatspeak “making a mistake”? Words undergo spelling changes all the time. I wouldn’t be surprised if the form “your” disappears altogether in the coming century (and if someday, people using “u” view “you” as we view “thou” today). Language evolves and corrects itself. Keep in mind that Shakespeare, in his time, made up words much in the same way users of chatspeak do today. I doubt anyone on this format would doubt the status of ‘mimic’, ‘hoodwink’, ‘gust’, and ‘swagger’ (being Pokémon terms) as words. I don’t think it’s fair in the least to say that typing ‘u’ instead of ‘you’ is in any way a mistake. The way “most people” type does vary depending on setting as you said, but a considerable amount of people on this forum utilize chatspeak – the creation of this thread proves that. In fact, the OP was expressing his discontent at how viral chatspeak is when people realize how efficient it is. If chatspeak wasn’t used by a significant fraction of Pokégym members, we wouldn’t be having this pleasant discussion right now.

That's not what I meant. What I meant was, it may save you time and effort to speak/write in a way that is easiest for you, but you may also be causing inconvenience for the listener.

I understand that, and I’m saying that ultimately if you allow the speaker to express their thoughts in the way they see fit, it will allow their thoughts to be expressed more precisely and ultimately improve communication, far more so than making your post “easier to read”.


So that someone else will actually read their message?

I don't think I should have to read any post that I don't want to, for whatever reason. I don't like the way you typed it out? Well, I won't read it. Too long for my attention span at the moment? Oh well. Etc., etc.

I might put up with it if it's not too bad, but if you're going to completely disregard every rule of grammar and spelling, I'm just not going to deal with that. Sorry.

But why is it that you refuse to read chatspeak? I have faith that people will improve their outlook on chatspeak and maybe cut the snobbery a little over time. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be posting.


What do you mean there is no difference? Shorthand is simply omitting certain things when writing/typing to make the process for faster. Here is the definition for, "meme." They are completely unrelated things. Whether people who regularly use "chatspeak" also use memes or not is completely irrelevant to this discussion. People who use "chatspeak" and people who don't both use memes.

While I don’t profess to be an expert on this subject, I can comment that I see things like ‘!!!1111111’ more often in mockeries of chatspeak than actual chatspeak.

You're really not concerned, huh? Punctuation is used to help make things easier to read. If you completely disregard punctuation in your post, regardless of whether you use "chatspeak" or not, you are writing something that will be hard to read. Hard to read doesn't mean absolutely illegible, it just means hard to read. I'm not going to read something that's hard to read when there are easier to read posts waiting for me.


The thing is that people who regularly use "chatspeak" are looking for other ways besides omitting/changing letters in certain words to shorten their messages, and the first place they generally look to is punctuation. It's not "chatspeak" on it's own that is so bad, but rather the combination of many annoying typing traits. You bet I'm going to get mad at you when you write something that is hard to read when we have things in place specifically to prevent such an occurrence.

I understand that, and I’m saying that ultimately if you allow the speaker to express their thoughts in the way they see fit, it will allow their thoughts to be expressed more precisely and ultimately improve communication, far more so than making your post “easier to read”.

My impression upon reading a post that completely disregards punctuation and uses extensive "chatspeak" is that the person who wrote it is either lazy or incapable of using proper English. If I didn't know better, that's the perception of you that I'd carry away with me.

This is pretty much an echo of Kayle’s post, the response to which you are now quoting. I already know you would think that; the reason I commented on my perception of your behavior is to show how ridiculous it is to think ill of someone over how they type their posts. Besides, your qualm is over formatting issues, not substance – a choice better equated to a dialectal difference than doing something wrong as opposed to right.

See how easy that was? I'm pretty sure I already made that point earlier...


Using my own argument against me? Nice.

Oh, so you get to have the impression of me being a snobbery stuck-up because I don't support "chatspeak" when it is unneeded, but I can't have the impression that you're lazy/incapable of using proper English when you only type in "chatspeak," even when it's unnecessary? You can have a negative impression of me based on your beliefs but I can't have a negative impression of you based on my beliefs. Want to contradict yourself some more, or is that enough?

Well, chatspeak isn’t ever “needed” per se; I guarantee if chatspeak did not exist, people would learn to type faster. Chatspeak is merely a convenience and a luxury that should be afforded everyone unless there is a reason for its being explicitly unacceptable. If chatspeak were illegible, naturally people wouldn’t use it while texting. Your examples of chatspeak (while admittedly humorous) are a bloated exaggeration of how most type (and the level of chatspeak I am advocating), which can be concluded simply by knowing that it is still in use and widely understood by its numerous users. Explain to me, for example, why someone aiming to reduce typing time would make use of the caps lock, or use “theyre” when the word they’re looking for is ’their’. Personally, I can truthfully say I understood your post after reading only the chatspeak, but I can understand how audiences who do not regularly abbreviate would not. The most distracting element for me was the caps lock, which should not be abused (after all, it definitely doesn’t demonstrate laziness!) – had you made your post entirely lowercase, as is the case with pretty much all chatspeak I see, it would have easily made your post far more legible.

 

[toxictaipan]

BOFF:

I was typing up a response, but I realized I was just saying the same thing I said in my last post. This argument is only going in circles. If we were going somewhere with it, I'd keep at it, but I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree.

I'd just like to say that I don't automatically assume that a person who uses "chatspeak" is stupid and I don't think lesser of them, I just think it's really annoying when it goes too far. Abbreviation is fine, but give me some commas, bro.

 

[Elite_4_Allen]

lol, you just used chatspeak, brother!

 

[yoyofsho16]

Chat logo is for convenience. Typing will almost always be slower than speaking, so it came about when technology turned from informational to more conversational, to simulate the liveliness of actual talking. I think it's fine when used for convenience, such as "u" or simply removing vowels out of long yet easily ID'able words, but using the same number of keys to intentionally misspell is just sans logic... breaks the purpose of chat speak in the first place.

I think a lot of people just have a bad grasp of the English language. More people are C and D students than A and B students. If you live in suburbia and use a word more than 3 syllables long, even a common one like "insatiable," it's as if you're more likely to get a comment about "long words" than a genuine response.

"Long words" is kind of a bad term. We should really abolish its use or something.

 

[gallade]

So you show up to League looking like a slob because it's not important, it's just league right?

come at me bro!

mmm, kind of.

On an internet forum, you are not spending extended periods of time with people (except you and BOF XD), and in an internet forum, you don't even know who is talking. If you are talking in real life and say stuff like "jk, i don't haxxorz, NOM A FALCON PAWNCH", then im probably going to get annoyed, and falcon pawnch them. I guess i don't really know how to describe it, but there is a tangible difference between real life, and an internet forum.

 

[niimou]

lol, you just used chatspeak, brother!

Bro isn't really chatspeak. Lol, on the other hand...*smile*

But anyway. Shortening words to a single letter was mostly for convienience in paging and later texting, fed by teens in chatrooms and IM who added acronyms like lol and pos (parent over shoulder) for the sake of speed and privacy, but with the advent of T9 and phones with qwerty keyboards it's really just something that's held on, for better or worse.

Misspelling words, however, I'd say stems from wanting to appear cool or cute. At least, that's what my experience was in my early chatroom days. Some of it has also simply been absorbed as part of internet culture, thanks to things like lolcats and other random jokes that float around. "So I herd u liek mudkipz" comes to mind. I don't think I ever saw people intentionally misspell like like that until after the mudkips thing. I mean, there was lyk and lik but never liek.

 

[Kayle]

I guess i don't really know how to describe it, but there is a tangible difference between real life, and an internet forum.

There totally is, and it hurts my argument a bit, I understand that. Anonymity is what makes a huge portion of internet culture work.

The thing is, on Pokegym, you're far less anonymous than most other places oti.

 

[Master Entei]

I don't have the time to read through the whole debate, but here's my 2c:

As a non-native English speaker, I'll answer the question that started the thread:
I have to put more thought on grammar and writing in general. That also automatically makes me put more thought on the post as a whole, too.
It would actually be harder for me to chatspeak than to write like this. I don't have wud and liek in my mind when I think in English, I have would and like. Transposing messages to make them shorter would ironically take more time than writing them out as is.
Then there's always the part of me that doesn't want to look like just some foreigner with lousy English. This part makes me look at the post when it's ready and asks: Is this post comprehendable?

I really don't have anything against people who write chatspeak, but I do have something against chatspeak itself. It may take you less time to write, but it'll take me more time to understand. Think about it: if someone shows that they take the time to write longer so that you could understand the post more easily, wouldn't that make you take the other person more seriously?
Ain't and the occasional ppl don't matter, I'm perfectly ok with that. The post doesn't have to be completely under grammar and vocabulary rules, this isn't a formal board. No forum is (that I could think of). As long as it's easily understandable and contains more "real" words than chatspeak, it's a good post.
Why use shift when you have the option not to? Thing is, the capital letter is as important as the period in separating sentences. So, in a short post with, say, not more than 3 sentences, I maybe wouldn't use capitals. But if it gets any longer than that, shift becomes important in making the post easier to read, just like enter.