July 07, 2012

When WORDS get MURDERED



Let’s not deny it. You and I both have committed multiple murders recently and we are going to continue to judiciously murder in the future too. What murder is this, do you ask? Don’t be shocked. Luckily we won’t be sent to prison for this kind of murder. I’m talking about a crime, which falls under the section of “defamation of words”. Yes, with the advent of SMS, chat rooms and text messages, we all have victimised the English Language by murdering its basic word-structure. If you are still not getting me, just get your smart phone or any other mobile device that you use and open your inbox. In the recent conversations there is a 99% chance that you are bound to find, if not all, but at least a few of the following words that would have been typed in short-form to make them look like this:

And= nd
Come= “cum” (I mean, come on!! We all know there is a whole other meaning to the “cum” word!)
Coming? = cummin? (No thank you!!)
What= wat
This= dis
When= wen
The= d
Your= ur
Tomorrow= tom (as in tom-cat?)
Should= shud
Could= cud
Don’t= don (you want me to “don” my dress or call in the mafia?)

And the list goes on. This is a serious crime you know. Over the last ten to fifteen years, we have become so accustomed to the “easy and short” usage of commonly used words in daily life that it has become more of a bad habit now a days. Short words are fine to use, when we are in a hurry to send a message to a friend as fast as possible. At times like that, short lingo is enough to make the communication. But that doesn’t mean they should be cultivated to be used on daily basis, especially on formal occasions. Now there has come a point where people forget the line between a formal and an informal letter.

Consider an average, short-lingo addict who is typing a very formal letter to an associate. And this is how it goes;

Respected sir,

As Ive bin caught up wid a lite fever, its nt possible 4 me 2 attnd d functn on d said date. Kindly understand n oblige.

Yours truly,

So n so.

There is definitely nothing formal about this formal letter. The excessive usage of short-lingo is slowly deteriorating our brain from using the actual English words that are classy, wholesome to pronounce, to speak and to see.

I know SMS language is the all new “it” language that people, especially the teens and young adults are flaunting now a days. But studies show that if this type of sub-culture continues, the short form might as well be adapted as the revised English language with the future generations.

English is often called as a mad man’s language because, there are words that sound the same but mean different like “hare” and “hair”. Then there are words that sound something and are spelled with completely different letters like the words “tough” and “through” where the “gh” is merely there for no reason. So no language is perfect. Even English is perfectly flawed. But it has been built and well organised over the past generations. There are many words that come under this language that define subtlety and sophistication. English language is a classic, universal language. But times are changing and so is the usage of English words. In my opinion, people are becoming lazy to type the whole word. Instead they are resorting to the SMS culture even for formal occasions.



This is mainly affecting the children’s Basic English knowledge. There are cases where students often forget while writing long answers and resort to using short-form words such as “r for are”, “u for you” and "bcoz for because". Maybe short-lingo is a popular culture out in the modern society but they are definitely formidable to be used when one is expected to actually write on a sheet of paper.

Even I have done such horrible mistakes while writing letters and even during class internals. And this is mainly because of the constant texting and chatting with friends on the internet. That is why I started blogging. So that at least in my posts I wouldn't resort to the SMS culture. And this has helped me improve over the days. Now a days, even while I text or chat on Facebook, I make sure I type properly. Of course there are times, I feel lazy and use the short-hand version. But that’s okay. As long as I don’t use that form of language in my E-mails, letters and comments, I’m fine with it.

Words mean a lot to me and I hate to see them get stripped off and murdered off their essence like this. So I’m making the following two similar requests:

Please stop hurting the words. Use them fully and completely and if you respect the language, that in turn shows your respect to the person reading it.

(OR)

PLZ stp hurtin d wurds. Use thm full n cumplte n if u respt d lang, thn u respt d persn readin’t.

Now why don’t you decide which makes more sense to read and to feel? The former or the latter??

***

P.S: Trust me, you don’t want to forget your grammar like this cat here who texts his pals a lot!! ;)

53 comments:

  1. Good read. Really.. Can't agree more with you..

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  2. I am against use of sms lingo Neha. I do agree with you.
    Chennagi bariteera neevu :)

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  3. You said it, hope everyone reads this :)

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    1. Thank you Ghazala, hope I made my point reaches out to everyone :)

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  4. Lovely post and I believe the SMS languaged has great influence in our lives :) Keep up the good work

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    1. Thanks Hari and thanks for the follow :)

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  5. That formal letter cracked me up! I just fear getting up one morning and reading the newspaper in that language. Disgusting. +100 to you for raising this issue so effectively and wonderfully :)

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    1. Thank you so much Arti :) and haha, even imagining the future news papers sporting this kind of lingo is making me laugh. But I'm confident, the world will not change to that extent :)

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  6. Hahaha..... i just fell down of my chair once reading it...

    nice post

    keep writing

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    1. Thanks AE and hope you didn't injure yourself :) :P

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  7. Hehe..i choose to call it evolution of language :)

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    1. Yeah, an evolution that is taking us humans back to the stone age where the nomads communicated in short-lingo; which is nothing but pointing the club at each other and grunting :P

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  8. this is serious matter ... i am happy you brought it to some peoples notice ..
    The 'words' i hate most are 'ma' and 'da'. I mean WTF(sorry), anyone uttering those words gets certified in my memory as a WANNABE.

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    1. Hi Mithil. Yes, you are so right. Even I hate those words, especially the word "da". It sounds ridiculous in my head when ever I read it in an SMS.

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  9. I too discourage the short cut way of typing.. reduces focus on grammar and alternate meaning/usage of words

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  10. Wit and Humour! I reckon its a lovely post and specially the play on words with "Plz stp hurtin........" .. Good one Neha! :)

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  11. I am so with you on this.

    Have written at length on this modern trend ... killing the language for one's convenience.

    It just shows the writer's poor language skills.

    Have seen letters of the kind you have shared in the article ... they really get my goat.

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    1. Yes, we shouldn't kill the language for our convenience. On the long run its not at all a good thing.

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  12. I agree, sometimes you just wonder why they do it. Sometimes deciphering is hard.

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  13. good one and I completely agree with you ...

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  14. Replies
    1. yep, even language has a shortcut now a days :)

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  15. wow i can't agree with you more, wrote a similar post myself.

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    1. Good to hear about it. We being writers, should try and spread the message :)

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  16. I couldn't agree with you more. Wrote a very similar post myself today.

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  17. LOL! U wrot dis wel. Me more sms, no tim 2 type. Forgiv. Hahahaha...I murder words occassionally! I have so many emails to reply these days that I am guilty of murder, My Lord! How can I get a reprieve!

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    1. LOL (oops, but lol is a good abbreviation to the whole "laugh out loud" :P). It's hard to avoid using short-lingo as it's the easiest and shortest way to get the work done. But I do try to keep an eye on my words :)

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  18. Neha...let me give you a hug for writing this wonderful post. How I hate using and reading this shortcut lingo...half of the time, I can't decipher ...and that makes me feel worse :((....Thanks...
    Good one!!

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    1. Panchali ji, that's so sweet of you and you shouldn't feel worse as you are a terrific, terrific writer :). I'm glad you don't get the shortcut lingo much, because once we start to understand it, then our mind starts thinking on the same level and will promote us to use the same lingo for the ease of it.

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  19. HAHAHA....yeah, even I have to think twice before short forms for Come :p
    But you have correctly summed it up. I guess, just like you, even I ensured that when I start my blog, I'll use proper English language and I've been following it up.
    This generation's youth has to seriously look into this matter.
    Nicely written Neha. Keep posting :)

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    1. Thanks Jay :). And a few years back, even I used to think using short-lingo was "cool". because at that time I had just got my new mobile and flaunting this new, hip way of typing short SMS was the coolest thing to do. And as an aftermath, it did have an effect on my grammar as I ended up writing everything short, even during exams and tests.
      Yes, we the youth must make sure our future generations know what real English is.

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  20. lol...grt1 ,....btw...it's fun wr8in yr post in sms lingo :P :D

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    1. rofl, fr ur commnt, evn i'l reply in sms lingo... bt it ain't cul fr me coz itz hard 2 type lik dis coz im mre used 2 typin in normal english. :P

      Would you believe me, if I said that I took more time to type the above sentence than my previous comment?? ;)

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  21. Very good post with good message!....I've to admit....I use shortcut words....But, Yeah known the disadvantages of it during exams....I started using shortcuts in my answer-sheet also without my notice...Oops!
    Then I tried to avoid them....

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    1. I'm with you on this Valli as even I've faced similar problems.

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  22. A much needed post Neha-this short-cut language is trendy with youngsters,but ultimately it is going to show on their vocabulary.

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  23. Terrific post! You know there was a time I was taken in by the cool quotient of sms lingo and deliberately typed everything that way even when I was in no hurry. But as happened to you, the malaise infected my notebooks in college and subsequently my exam papers and then I realised the magnitude of the horror I had thought harmless. I set out to diligently work on it, my language recovered and now I'm so out of touch that my friends get pissed off at times when I ask them to send their textx again in 'normal' English LOL. I agree, blogging helps in blogging helps in recuperation as well as prevention of such murder of words. I can vouch for it :)

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    1. You story is exactly similar to mine sudha, even I've suffered and still recovering from restraining myself from going all short and crazy!! :)

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  24. First of all I find it so very difficult to understand when people type in the shortened sms lingo....Nice post Neha, Agree to every word of it :)

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  25. I am happy at least some one has bothered to bring this up.

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    1. I was searching about the similar related topics on google the other day, but there is not much out there. So thought I would contribute to the topic :)

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  26. Completely agree!
    I can't watch English being murdered in front of my eyes any more. Especially with the new-age punks taking it to the whole new level of 'mah layef mah rulezz'. Death to the Grammar Nazi.

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