Mobile phones?

[muckdiva]

I have a very old, very basic mobile, use it in emergencies only. (When I've remembered to charge it up!) I never have it switched on otherwise, much to peoples' annoyance. I don't want to be on call 24/7 either. And... the joys of text - you can keep em.

Love my apple mac and Ipod tho!

[scared55]

So, M8, wts wrng wiv txtng?

Is there an English translation of this, please?

KK

[SarzWix]

Is there an English translation of this, please?

KK

The basic rule of thumb with 'text speak' is that the vowels are taken from a word to make it shorter, and if possible numbers replace part of a word too - so Mate becomes m8, Later becomes l8r, Before becomes b4... It all makes sense really, just a peculiar form of short-hand!

[Flummery]

Rule of 'thumb' - har har!

[nick the grief]

Ok people now another point of view. .......Anyone want to put a price on your two kids calling you up to tell you that they love you when you cant be there to put them to bed ?

Well I have to agree Beefy although could you stop your kids phoning me to say they love me as Mrs G is getting suspicious

As part of my contract I pay £5 a month as we can all ( Mrs G, me and the 2 smaller G's) talk to one another for nowt. So I can phone my son now and tell him to bring me a cup of tea .... excellent ! and Miss G who is currently residing in Piglet country at Uni can beg for money or get me to drop stuff off she forgot to take with her or tell me why she's not coming to my birthday party as she's off to see the Farting Pixy's or some other band I've never heard of. On the up side I can send her embarrasing texts when she's in the Library and everyone looks

I also take my fone to the lottie as it has a radio & MP3 so I can listen to the Archers - the everyday talk of simple folk ...... oh no thats the X factor isn't it and what can be more relaxing than a quick game of Golf whilst everyone else wants the bog

[Two_Sheds]

The basic rule of thumb with 'text speak' is that the vowels are taken from a word to make it shorter, and if possible numbers replace part of a word too - so Mate becomes m8, Later becomes l8r, Before becomes b4... It all makes sense really, just a peculiar form of short-hand!

Yes, it used to be called Speedwriting ... I remember ads on the underground along the lines of "if u cn rd ths u cd bcm a scrtry + gt a gd jb" AS IF!!

[Snadger]

I wonder if anyones ever translated books like the Bible or Shakespeares plays or sonnets into text talk?
Perish the thought!

I honestly think that in the not so distant future, text talk will be taught in schools and text talk essays will be the norm.

Evolution marches forth regardless and how long before humans can use all of there brain capacity and converse by telepathy? It would put paid to those poxy mobile phones anyway!

[scared55]

Lazy and semi-literate, I call it

KK

[SarzWix]

Harumph... I have my English qualifications, thank you! As I tell my children - it's fine to speak slang, as long as you know the correct way to say things first.
The whole point of text-shorthand is to shorten the message so that you only use a specific number of characters. If you go over, you pay for two messages (or three!). I do it myself in text messages, I don't see it as bad spelling - more about saving the pennies!

[Flummery]

But some of us oldies are so darned cussed that we'd rather pay the extra and send 2 'English' messages!

Signed Awkward of East Yorkshire
(Anyway, I never send text messages that long!)

[Snadger]

I read somewhere that over 50's don't usually text and under 50's do!

I have seen a college course advertised entitled ' IT for the over 50's '

I often wonder what the younger generations perception of the the late middle agers IS????

[bramble]

Well i'm well over 50 and use txt to speak to my children and my grandson. I find it handy if in a hurry. No need to go to the trouble of typing out a full message when you can shorten it.
I think we older people should loosen up and embrace new technology instead of criticizing
it. Theres good and bad and i can only think the event of the mobile phone is good.
When i visit my family and am driving alone at night i am glad to feel that phone in my pocket. Its my lifeline in case anything should go wrong. I would'nt be without it.

[scared55]

Snadger - whoever put that together had obviously not heard about Silver Surfers - we also use SMS and even, on occasion MMS, but prefer to use English or French as appropriate, complete with correct capitalisation and punctuation (in fact my 30 years old daughter is more of a stickler for that than I am).

KK

[nick the grief]

.......I often wonder what the younger generations perception of the the late middle agers IS????

I'm usually called "The old fart" by my to kids I think its a term of endearment

[HeyWayne]

This should help those requiring translation:

http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm

and if you think that's bad, you should try leet, or leetspeak (l33t)

Now that's fun!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet

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