Are they not just from old habits stemming from old tech that had memory and space limitations and are no longer necessary?
Fun Fact:
I just found out you can type
these letters: “wbzdnzjsm”
and get:
“我不知道你在讲什么” (“I have no clue what you’re talking about”)
because all you need to type is the first letter of the pinyin
from “wo bu zhi dao ni zai jiang shen me”
Alright boys, pack it up, the language debate has ended, apparantly Chinese has won…
(kidding… unless… 🤔)
I get that it seems ridiculous to you, but shit like that is how languages evolve, regardless of its perceived impropriety. English is littered with things that were once considered improper, and back then, just like today, there were people complaining that “proper grammar” was being lost, people are being lazy, etc.
Being a hard ass about grammar and proper pronunciation isn’t going to make you any friends (besides to other pedants). People learn as much as they care to learn, and nobody likes being corrected. I tell you this not because its related to the post, but as a former pedant who realized how lame it is after watching “The Professor and the Madman”.
Anyway, my 2¢…
Ever tried texting on a flip phone?
Yes in 1993.
I believe that’s the origin of the current trend. Typing on a T9 keypad.
There was a parallel ‘733t sp34k’ trend on bulletin boards around the same time.
I imagine that they merged to some degree.
1337
Bah! I knew it didn’t look right when I wrote it.
I’m no Sherlock Holmes, but I deduce that’s a lie. 🤔
Smartphones have been a thing since at least 2006 (actually earlier), and commonplace since at least 2010.
I haven’t seen a T9 phone since then.
Very true, but it bled into society. Gamers realized it was easier to OMW and LFG while their hands were busy, and we even started saying BRB and OMG in conversation. They aren’t abbreviations anymore, they’re synonyms.
I had a T9 into at least 2012. I definitely had a smart phone (kinda) in 2014. The exact transition is lost to memory. I used to text the bus system to find out if my bus was on time.
What specifically do you mean? If you are asking about you = u, to = 2, OK = k, and such, it’s text speak - faster to type and can fit more in 140 characters (SMS character limit IIRC)
But I agree that there is no reason to use those, especially on non-mobile devices.
Maybe before about 2008 when smartphones became ubiquitous.
To see it today is annoying, especially since auto correct wants to make it “you”.
Using tho instead of though is the worst and is used unnecessarily to put more emphasis on a random sentence.
I thought spelling ‘through’ was tough enough though
To a non-native reader (and maybe a few natives) that sentence is insane. It makes more sense as “I thot spelling ‘thru’ was tuff enuff tho,” although I admit I don’t like that very much either.
Aside, if something gets abbreviated a certain way enough times, it might become the word. Like when you want to get dinner at the drive-thru. Also, nobody wants pornography anymore, we’re all into porn now.
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Not exactly what you’re asking, but I have a peeve about acronyms. I suppose acronyms are a kind of abbreviation for common phrases, but often people assume you know the same acronyms as them and start throwing them out like some kind of word salad.
It’s not very hard to make sure everyone is on the same page with whatever TLA (Three-Letter Acronym) you want to use. See how easy that was? Now when I want to talk about my issue with rampant abuse of TLAs, you have an idea what I’m talking about.
You see this problem a lot in academia, software, and honestly probably any industry or hobby space. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s totally fine to use TLAs, brevity is useful in reading and writing. But sometimes those acronyms overlap with other acronyms and add to the confusion. Searching for shows with the BBC might get you the British Broadcasting Company - or pornography. Or if you’re looking for an Automated Teller Machine near you - and get porn again instead. Gosh, is there anything porn can’t do?
Some acronyms are so ubiquitous that it feels silly to define them. Like everyone knows what LOL means, right? Well, unless you’re talking about League of Legends. Or you’re my grandmother who never learned it means “Laugh Out Loud” and signs all of her letters LOL because she thinks it means “Lots Of Love”
Just to add to the fun confusing acronyms, in 3D printing circles, IPA is isopropyl alcohol, not beer (india pale ale)
IPA is also the International Phonetic Alphabet.
I’m all for recycling, but sometimes it feels like it never ends.
I often use tho and other abbreviations as a way to show tone and personality in text. So like, if I’m being very casual and lighthearted I’m more likely to use tho, but if it’s a more serious conversation or I’m typing out proper thoughts then it’ll probably be though. For me it’s similar to how if you put a period at the end of your text then it’s kinda passive aggressive, but using periods just in the rest of the text as normal punctuation is fine
as a non-native i use tho to rebel against english orthography a bit, and because its faster – just like i side with the belgians and say septant instead of soixante-dix; or as i side with the saxons finding drei-viertel-zehn more convincing.
non standard lingo ftw! :)
I rarely say this, the Saxons are right!
Usually clumsy attempts at looking smart
If there is an unexplained abbreviation in a post or reply I usually just stop reading it, downvote, and move on. In other word, ITIAUAIAPORIUJSRIDAMO.
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abbreviations can be visual-flags, for the reader of the item.
Makes finding key-passages quicker for them.
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