While those aged 34 years and under are still the most prolific users of the text message abbreviations, new research has found that two-thirds of all adults now use them. Further, abbreviations, via text messaging, are now being used by half of people who are over 55-years of age. Now that research finding certainly has me (dollparty) LOL and with much gusto also. Why?
In my past several Diaries and in my recent Comments I have taken to a very limited use of "textese". I have also witnessed scant use of such by at least one other DK writer in a comment recently made by writing " srisly" (seriously). A cautious "toe in the water" approach by that commenter perhaps.
I, on the other hand being a bit less cautious as well as a bit more prolific in my "txtese" use, have now received, cumulatively, some half dozen admonitions against my use of "txtese" and, a few complaints by commenters who chose to judge selectively concerning what they interpreted to be other writing crimes of mine of one sort or another.
I have certainly used the why question as to commenter's adversity to "txtese" with but no response until I finally posed the question directly to a commenter in reply to a comment that was made, instead of just asking commenters "why" generically.
The response that I received was to the effect that, "txtese" was hard to read and served no useful purpose. No useful purpose? Well I have found that using a 2 or 4 to be particularly helpful to me to enabling me frequently to copy data into a comment subject line as a complete sentence in the DK alloted space. This, an admittedly miniscule but sometimes telling point for me as I write.
I responded, but I doubt that that commenter read my response because of the rapidity with which Diaries leave the front page of DK & I have my doubts as to how many readers take the trouble to search them out to follow up. Besides I have noted how very often commenters drop their load and never check back to see if they left enuf of a mess to wish to do any cleaning up on.
The more that I got to thinking about the situation I began to think that maybe non use of "txtese" by DKers had to do with DK demographics. I was confident that I had seen those Demographics in DK print in the past. I turned to DK search with my hope for a Google lucky find type of search being an outcome but no such luck., I then ran the approximately 359 Diaries published in 2010 before giving up wondering why it was that I could not just put 'DK member demographics by age' into DK search and get data instead of just Diary titles.
With a bit more thinking, I then began to consider that maybe it was just older DKers that would be the commenters that had the fixed mindedness such as to not be willing to put up with anything but the same old. With that in mind I decided to search for online studies that could supply information in that regard.
The study that I accessed first did not support my conjecture, it saying that, "At least 69 per cent of those aged 35 to 54 years and 50 per cent of older people are using words like LOL, which stands for laugh out loud and which is Britain’s favourite acronym with 54 per cent using it regularly." Are Americans that likely to be different?
"Other words that are being used are OMG, for oh my God, and BTW, for by the way.
While those aged 34 years and under are still the most prolific users of such abbreviations, new research has found that two-thirds of all adults now use them.
And they are no longer confined to text messages, with seven in 10 saying they use them in emails as well."
Incidentally, a poll by the Payments Council’s campaigning arm, also found that most Britons don’t know the most often used financial abbreviations. Only a third knew APR (annual percentage rate) was a financial term while 31 per cent did not know what ATM (automated teller machine) or PIN (personal identification number) stood for.
In response, PayYOURway.org.uk has launched a glossary so people can check up on shortened phrases. Just saying, but wondering about DK's "the some" who seem to have an inclination to be picky and perhaps would not even go out of their way to look an abreviation meaning up and learn it.
Indeed, despite objection to "txtese“ use... by some few hard a-sed commenters as well as some with their admittedly more kindly & gentle objection... a study shows that, "Text speak has become a way of life and it’s possible to have a whole conversation just using acronyms and abbreviations,” the UK Daily Express quoted the group’s Sandra Quinn as saying."
I (dollparty) note that I am notthe only DK writer who uses "txtese either.
A Diary writer in DK on May 20,2013 used an acronym cuss word in his title which resulted in the first two comments to his Diary being.....
1. "I would recommend you change the title before continuing further, ok. We'll BOTH appreciate it.
by Stand Strong on Mon May 20, 2013 at 04:25:33 AM PDT " and then -> 2. " I agree, but... cusswords in the title are frowned on here. Fine in the body copy, but it triggers NetNanny and gets the site blocked when it's in the title. Try "Fn(k Off" instead. Dyslexics will read it clearly and everyone else will get it from context.
If I ran this circus, things would be DIFFERENT!
by CwV on Mon May 20, 2013 at 04:25:35 AM PDT "
So, lo & behold ye of little respect for txtese" usage, above I see advice to a Diarist for using "txtese" on DK and, horrors use of capital letters. Something else that I have been challenged for doing in the past. Hmm, are the two commenters above really, really ANGRY?
In fact,I read, “No matter what age you are, you’re likely to be using text speak to some extent. But it is a concern to see just how little (that people) know about the acronyms that really matter to us - the APRs, ATMs and PINs."
“We are coming across these abbreviations every day, yet levels of awareness of what they actually mean are not as high as it could be", and it seems obvious to me that the DKer COMMA COUNTERS, USE OF CAPITAL LETTER WORD WATCHERS, AND THOSE DEDICATED TO NO LEEWAY IN MISSPELLINGS OR BEING GRAMMAR MISUSE WARDENS, THAT READ WHAT IS WRITTEN IN DK are quite likely to continue in their ways rather than try to get their jollies in other ways like some concentration on the theme of what is being written about & an intelligent comment made in that regard. O, & lest I 4get, there lerning 2 master a few acronyms of the mor difficult type such as that 4 can mean four & 2 means to as well as just being a number.
Refs from: http://www.thehindu.com/...
PS: Good reader, please be heartily assured that the text that I entered into "new diary" did NOT have any sentences starting in mid line BEFORE I hit the Save & Preview button provided by DK.
Yes here I am angry (note use of caps) because, I have been criticized for using Caps, also for the sentence spacing that appeared in past Diaries also, as part of complaints that my data was "too hard to read". Maybe so, but I ask however for the decency not to blame me for it when seemingly it is a DK publishing glitch..