Double Journal 3

Quote:

            I contacted several of the spelling-reform organizations in operation today to ask them about their feelings on adopting text-messaging shorthands as a kind of spelling reform. Alan Mole, the president of the American Literacy Council, when asked if his group had ever considered allying itself with the texters, said that it had not, although he added that text messaging “does serve the purpose of raising consciousness” about the fact “that there are different ways of making people spell.”

Reaction:

            I selected this quote because as a texter, I find myself using abbreviations to spell words often because I do not know how to spell them.  I have always been a bad speller so when it comes to text messaging I do not wish to be made fun of because of my ability to spell, so I abbreviate.  My new cell phone comes with a program called T9 when activated it helps spell words.  If you are even close to the word it helps you spell it.  I find that using this program actually helps me become a better speller because as I use the words and the program often enough I see the miss spelled word spelled correctly.  This causes the correct spelling to be seen as many times as I use the word.  Eventually I spell the word correctly just from having seen it so many times.  This also boosts my confidence because then I know a new word to spell correctly.  What I am saying is I find text messaging educational in the spelling department.  I may still abbreviate, however, the words I do spell out I spell correctly.  I find nothing wrong with using text messaging to learn to spell.  I also find nothing wrong with text messaging abbreviations because abbreviations have been around for years such as, instead of saying with we write w/ or without we write w/o so why then is brb or lol bad?

Related Material:       

            In the latest Reader’s Digest September 2011 a New Jersey mom sent in something her daughter had said while eating Cheese curls.  “‘Wow!’ Said my tween daughter.  She was reading the nutrition label on a bag of cheese curls.  “These must be loaded with cholesterol.  The Label lists it as Omg!” My tween son took a look.  “That’s zero milligrams, not ‘Oh My God.’”

References:

Shea, A. (2010, January 22). The keypad solution. The Times Magazine, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/magazine/24FOB-onlanguage-t.html

Torrence, K. (2011, September). Life's funny that way. Reader's Digest, 101.