I got my first email account in third grade with the once-common America Online. Since then, I have become more versed in the realm of online communication and my email habits have evolved as well. While I used to use shortened expressions like "ur" for "you're" or "thx" for "thanks," I now almost always use correct spelling and grammar. I currently have three email accounts, one of which is for personal use, one for schoolwork, and another for a combination professional and personal email. When I write personal emails, I commonly leave out capitalization but still try to use periods, apostrophes, and any other useful grammatical techniques. For the first email, I usually use a greeting such as "Hi (insert name)" and some sort of closing but as the correspondence continues over multiple emails I will probably leave them out. As for professional or school-related email, I almost always use proper greetings such as "Dear (insert name)" and a closing. In addition, I keep my writing at a level on par with that of my formal writing, like I would for essays or any other schoolwork.
When I reflect on my old email techniques, I find it funny and also somewhat pathetic. I'm all for using technology to make us more efficient, but to what degree can we let our language decay? The English language is unique in the fact that we have so many words that may have similar meanings, but their denotations may differ slighty and their connotations can differ vastly. By resorting to the commonly used acronyms "g2g," "lol," and "smf," we effectively block out the majority of other words and phrases that can better describe what we're doing and how we're feeling. As for lack of periods, commas, and other grammar, I understand that it is faster to compose the message, but I think that the time saved comes at the expense of the reader who has to decipher where certain thoughts begin and others end. Again, maybe it is hypocritical of me to say these things since in personal emails I take certain shortcuts, but I think that's why I have recrafted the way I communicate over the web.
Now, since we're starting to use Twitter, brevity is almost more important than proper grammar since you have a character limit, but that's another topic entirely.
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I love the statement "...to what degree can we let our language decay?", because I have asked the same question when I read texts or emails or any other quick communication service. It makes one appear less intelligent or thoughtful when they can't even express their thoughts in a complete word. Especially as we have grown up with these services, we have learned the lingo of the internet, yet chosen not to use them because of its unnecessary use. Another thing to consider is our ability to type as fast as we can, typing just one or two more letters takes us less than a second yet makes a much bigger impact. All in all, I thoroughly agree with your outlook that shortcuts in typing are just making our language decay even more than it should.
ReplyDeleteI also used a lot of shorthand phrases when I got my first email account, such as "ur" and "thx". However, as time went on, I began to realize that it barely made a difference whether or not I typed "your" or "ur", because two extra letters takes less than 1 second to type. I think it just looks stupid now whenever people abbreviate things that shouldn't even be abbreviated. Laziness has really caused our language to decay as you said, because people are spending less and less time typing formally, and more and more time using slang.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think that on the whole that most of the short hand we use today is not useful, we cannot outright dismiss the shortcuts because they "decay" the English language. English is interesting to me not simply because we have so many words, but because we have so many words by brutally stealing from other languages and inventing new words. So when we make shortcuts or continue to use a misspelled version of a word are we not letting English rot. To not adopt new words and meanings I feel would actually be a real decay.
ReplyDeleteI think another idea that emerges when dealing with the "decay" of the English language in email forums is how ineffiecient it actually is to write in shorthand. Not only is the language muddled, but it takes long to read and understand. Shortening words is neither intellectual nor efficient.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the fact that people are too quick to use shorthand notations, instead of taking the time to write out how they actually feel. For example, someone might respond with "true" or "lol" when they completely disagree and in no way find anything you just said funny.
ReplyDeleteWhile I have never really used abbreviations of words like "thx" or "ur," I currently use expressions like "lol" almost everyday when sending some form of digital messages to friends. The excessive use of such phrases have taken away their meaning to the point where there use is generally out of a formality rather than sincerity. After an entire summer of rarely capitalizing any letters, I also found myself having to adjust to the proper rules of grammar when writing for school or other formal mediums. For these reasons I am attempting to reduce my use of more convenient yet incorrect grammar when talking to my friends digitally.
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