Text talk – OMG, it’s all over our mobile phones and social media sites. While it’s handy when trying to keep communiqués to 140 characters or less, is it beating traditional English language into oblivion? A new infographic takes a closer look.
Text talk has changed the way we communicate but whether or not it is affecting traditional use of the English language is still up for debate, according to the infographic from OnlineSchools.com, which sites several studies.
One study suggests that people who text aren’t modifying language as much as we think – using ‘you are’ and ‘u r’ equally, for example – whereas another study found that people who text are less likely to accept new words than people who read more traditional print media.
Text talk has become common enough that the most quarterly update to Oxford Dictionaries Online has included the terms ‘lolz’ and ‘ridic’.