I’m not a Grammar Nazi, but…..

By Geni Dee

I do not spend my time correcting grammar and spelling on people’s Facebook posts. But in my professional career, I have come across some language atrocities that have irked me beyond measure.

I have had to Google what TTYL, IDK, AFAIK, CYM and various other abbreviations mean (Just for interest, it means: Talk To You Later, I Don’t Know, As Far As I Know and Check Your Mail). And who knew that “I txt u, y u no txt b?” is considered a full sentence?

You might argue that I need to go with the programme and embrace the new tech-savvy method of communicating, but isn’t the whole point of communication so that others can actually understand you?

Maybe I’m just getting old, but I have difficulty comprehending text talk.

But thank goodness for Google. Most of the obvious abbreviations are at least universally used, so in a sense one can almost argue that language is evolving by being simplified.

I just worry that the line between revolutionising the English language and illiteracy is becoming very blurred. My problem is not with using a streamlined version of the language, it is far more basic. Simplifying it, leads to the inability of society to spell even the simplest of words.

Many people struggle to distinguish between the words “you’re” (as in, you are) and “your” (as in, belonging to you). The same counts for their, there and they’re.

Nowadays where everyone is engaging online, your language and grammar skills are all that define you. People form an opinion of you based on how well you express yourself and your intelligence is often judged by how well you write.

I have gotten professional e-mails written in text talk, which I have immediately deleted. In my industry you get paid for delivering technical reports to the client. If you can not communicate properly via e-mail, it sends the message that you lack attention to detail and will not deliver a quality product.

I use smiley face emoji’s and LOL’s when chatting to my friends, but in a professional setting there is no place for text talk and we should not be humouring the idea that it is the route to the future.

But who knows, maybe the millennials will all prove me wrong and we will be communicating using only Emoji’s in the future.

My question then is this. Will it be considered evolution of the language or will we have regressed?

Because isn’t that how the ancient Egyptians communicated using their hieroglyphs thousands of years ago?