4 ms·

I wonder if, over time, this trend will lead to a shift in what is considered acceptable writing. Once the "texting" teenagers of today take positions of leade

by neovive 16y ago

I wonder if, over time, this trend will lead to a shift in what is considered acceptable writing. Once the "texting" teenagers of today take positions of leadership in government and corporations, they may be more accepting of this writing style.

tokenadult 16y ago
Even if texting abbreviations become widely acceptable in business writing, the issues of lack of clarity and disorganized flow of ideas will still distinguish good writing from bad writing. And I wouldn't bet on typical texting abbreviations becoming widely acceptable for business-to-business writing among the most profitable businesses.
peschkaj 16y ago
Mark Twain complained about this long ago. As a previous commenter said: it's not so much that people are not able to write now, it's that they can publish their bad writing. We have metrics in schools to track how well our kids can write. We can blog about how poorly our co-workers write. It's more visible than it ever has been. At the end of the day, every communication with your employer is an opportunity. If you can't communicate well, you will be less likely to get what you want out of those interactions. On the other hand, if you're able to write well and communicate clearly, you're going to get what you want far more often.
bitsai 16y ago
My theory is that texting abbreviations are currently in vogue mostly because of the limitations of early texting technology. As technologies like smart auto-completion make it easier and easier to text complete words, we should see a reversion back to a more conventional style. I'm clinging to this theory even though I have pretty much zero evidence backing it up, because the alternative, that "dat was hawt, amirite?" will eventually become acceptable writing, makes me depressed beyond words.

4 ms·

I wonder if, over time, this trend will lead to a shift in what is considered acceptable writing. Once the "texting" teenagers of today take positions of leade

by neovive 16y ago

tokenadult 16y ago
Even if texting abbreviations become widely acceptable in business writing, the issues of lack of clarity and disorganized flow of ideas will still distinguish good writing from bad writing. And I wouldn't bet on typical texting abbreviations becoming widely acceptable for business-to-business writing among the most profitable businesses.
peschkaj 16y ago
Mark Twain complained about this long ago. As a previous commenter said: it's not so much that people are not able to write now, it's that they can publish their bad writing. We have metrics in schools to track how well our kids can write. We can blog about how poorly our co-workers write. It's more visible than it ever has been. At the end of the day, every communication with your employer is an opportunity. If you can't communicate well, you will be less likely to get what you want out of those interactions. On the other hand, if you're able to write well and communicate clearly, you're going to get what you want far more often.
bitsai 16y ago
My theory is that texting abbreviations are currently in vogue mostly because of the limitations of early texting technology. As technologies like smart auto-completion make it easier and easier to text complete words, we should see a reversion back to a more conventional style. I'm clinging to this theory even though I have pretty much zero evidence backing it up, because the alternative, that "dat was hawt, amirite?" will eventually become acceptable writing, makes me depressed beyond words.