# do u write like this?

Category: Let's talk

## Post 1 by chocolab (move over school!) on Tuesday, 06-Sep-2005 2:39:22

Hi all. I've noticed a lot of the people on here use the shortened words u ur 2 b and it irritates me to no end. Before anyone gets their shorts in a twist. this is not a French versus american thing, nor is it a sighted versuss blind people thing. It just doesn't sound very intellegent to me when someone asks how r you and ur guy doing? I mean what if you write the word you'll. You'll have to write the whole word anyway so why cut corners that you'll have to rebuild anyway. Thoughts?

## Post 2 by sjtaylor (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Tuesday, 06-Sep-2005 4:16:42

agreed. I believe it to be useful in SMS messages, as they can be long and arduous for those who, like me, sms at snails pace, *grin*, but in everyday' emails/online conversation its more or less laziness.

## Post 3 by Char (The sexy canadian) on Tuesday, 06-Sep-2005 4:47:37

ahhh yes i agree as welll. i can't stand it!

## Post 4 by Manwe (The Dark Lord) on Tuesday, 06-Sep-2005 5:15:19

it all depends really. certainly when sending sms messages or messages from your phone to msn contacts then it's useful. although sometimes using shorthand stuff can make the convo's flow quicker, especially if u are having multi convo's

## Post 5 by rdfreak (THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE-BLUE KANGA-KICKIN AUSIE) on Tuesday, 06-Sep-2005 5:49:40

yes, i agree. i do it when writing SMS's and that. actually when writing them I am very slack. i will save as many characters as I can, and I don't bother with capital letters cos it takes too much effort to find :) but I don't like the short-hand anywhere else. and I certainly can't stand the types of people who write without punctuation at all so everything just runs in together and jaws doesn't stop for a break I wonder how sighted people feel about this? .. ahem sorry all. Farewell! :)

## Post 6 by Goblin (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 06-Sep-2005 9:23:54

It's a an american thing and I refuse to do it as I'm Scottish..

## Post 7 by angel and devil (Generic Zoner) on Tuesday, 06-Sep-2005 10:01:54

I am sighted, and it does irritate me too. It looks sloppy and makes me think the person writing that way is either ignorant, lazy, or both. I was really disgusted several months ago when I read a newspaper article indicating that teachers are coming across more and more students who think it is acceptable to hand in reports and term papers using that instant message type of shorthand.

## Post 8 by chocolab (move over school!) on Tuesday, 06-Sep-2005 15:34:57

goblin, this isn't a certian language used by one particcular country, someone on here jsut last night told me that all around the world people use this type oflanguage. I agree though, teachers should come down harshly on people who do this. Now, lol we should have a spell check because like me, I don't always read before I send stuff so yes my sentences may not look great all of the time. Oh and just one more clarification, whenI had ICQ, if I read soemthing like, do u have a boy friend r u married, I would thing they couldn't speak English well. This is no disrespect to people who are learning it and I know about ifrst.

## Post 9 by Brooke (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 06-Sep-2005 15:53:27

I would have to agree that it does get annoying. It mainly depends on how much of this "short-hand" is used. Some people use it to the point where it is impossible to figure out what they're saying. I don't mind its occasional use every so often, but when it's used to the point where I can't figure out what the person is trying to say, I'm done with it.

## Post 10 by Twinklestar09 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Tuesday, 06-Sep-2005 15:54:49

I agree with the last post. I have a pen pal from India, that I'm assuming lived their all his life, and he writes and sends emails in that shorthand type of writing. for me, it gets annoying reading stuff like that. I don't really like how JAWS sounds reading it as it does sound different between when JAWS is reading that abbreviated stuff and when it is reading regularly spelled out stuff. To be honest, and no offense to people who prefer abbreviated typing, but it really annoys me to read IM's especially like that. I don't mind if it takes long for someone to type each message. And if I've known the person before we started IMing, I don't seem to mind as much. But I mean when they type like that when you just or are just chatting with them for the first time, it just makes me feel weird, like wondering what kind of person they are. I know that's messed up to generalize like that, but it really does make me feel weird when people start off writing like that when we're chatting for the first time in an IM conversation.
Leilani

## Post 11 by Goblin (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Friday, 09-Sep-2005 10:11:46

I think this whole trend is a cross over from text messaging which annoys me to no end as the screen reader on my phone is quite pernickety about pronounciation.

## Post 12 by Witchcraft (Account disabled) on Friday, 09-Sep-2005 12:36:33

I have to agree that I don't like it. Partly because I'm always trying to figure out what exactly they meant by this shorthand phraise...There seems to be 10 different meanings for one shorthand word, and I don't like it. I don't have time to keep up with all the shortcuts for typing...

## Post 13 by Blue Velvet (I've got the platinum golden silver bronze poster award.) on Friday, 09-Sep-2005 13:04:48

I use LOL for laugh out loud and BTW for by the way, but those are about the only ones for me. I have just come out and asked someone what a certain abbreviation means if I don't understand one that they send to me in a quicknote on here. Most people don't mind if you ask, and that should give them the idea that I don't want to talk in shorthand.

## Post 14 by Witchcraft (Account disabled) on Friday, 09-Sep-2005 13:38:18

Hmm, I guess I do use some of the common ones. But I'm not going to struggle to keep up with it; or always be asking "huh? What did ... mean?" Just don't really think people should have to, but then again, guess it's also a sign of the laziness people of the entire world have truly reached, and yep, I'm guilty, but not so much as some others I've seen.

## Post 15 by chocolab (move over school!) on Friday, 09-Sep-2005 14:05:37

wc that's exactly what i wanted to get across lol btw, brb, they all mae complete sense. r u going 2 b with him 2morrow? no it doesn't.

## Post 16 by Godzilla-On-Toast (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Sunday, 11-Sep-2005 15:12:04

I might use abbreviations like LOL in an e-mail, but none of that messaging shorthand. On a side note, it's bothersome when people write and don't use punctuation. I've seen this in replies to Livejournal posts. And what about people who end every sentence with a ..., that's three periods instead of one? It makes the sentences sound run together when you're using speech and makes the person sound frantic.

## Post 17 by gummybear16 (Account disabled) on Sunday, 11-Sep-2005 15:30:45

I use it, but only when I don't feel like spelling lol. I use to do it all the time, cuz my friends do it, but I'm trying to vear away from that.
cheers
Karrie

## Post 18 by Caitlin (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Sunday, 11-Sep-2005 15:33:07

I only say lol, and the occasional brb. And very very occasionally omg, just when I'm being dramatic. But other than that shortened thingies used to annoy me bu I've gotten used to them. I usually don't use them though.

## Post 19 by bashful (professional hypocrite) on Sunday, 11-Sep-2005 15:36:27

I read somewhere that the shorthand is causing kids' i qs to go down, because they're thinking it's ok. Maybe the same article someone mentioned earlier? Yes, I'll use some simple short cuts, but I try to stay away from the stuff like im goin ta the str cuz i gotta get sum thins, so g2g. bleh! It makes no sence.

## Post 20 by ellectra (Veteran Zoner) on Sunday, 11-Sep-2005 17:04:50

I can't say that I do. Personally, I find the habit rather irritating, but to each their own I suppose.

## Post 21 by jessmonsilva (Taking over the boards, one topic at a time.) on Sunday, 11-Sep-2005 17:10:27

I don't mind the shorthand, I don't use it alot however, but I'm pretty used to people using it, so I guess, it's ok with me.

## Post 22 by tara (the Zone BBS remains forever my home page) on Tuesday, 20-Sep-2005 15:54:11

I hate shorthand, I find it the most annoying thing andeven in some cases actually quite offensive because not knowing whether it is meant to be a criticism or just a normal comment,, firstly because I don't know what half of it means, particularly Rofl? That is particularly annoying and ilogical because the initials don't seem to represent something obvious likeBRB or WB. Does Rofl mean someone is talking rubbish, or is that an actual word that I haven't come across yet? Whenever I've seen it, it always looks deroggitary. I try to avoid using lol, because I think it sounds stupid with a screen reader, WB and BRB are just about tolerable because it's obvious by the initials what they mean. Don't get me wrong I don't mind seeing slang or writing it, but shorthand, no way! Who came up with all this shorthand rubbish anyway?

## Post 23 by Blue Velvet (I've got the platinum golden silver bronze poster award.) on Tuesday, 20-Sep-2005 17:51:48

Taz, ROFL stands for roll on floor laughing. I also learned recently that LMAO stands for laugh my ass off.

## Post 24 by tara (the Zone BBS remains forever my home page) on Tuesday, 20-Sep-2005 20:29:48

oh ok, so they're not deroggitary, as I thought, and lmao, I wondered about that thanks, I shan't be using any of those then, not necessary.

## Post 25 by wonderwoman (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 21-Sep-2005 22:02:45

I really don't mind some shorthand, but please, please, don't use imodicons when you're talking to me? I just can't get with those imodicons, ::;d, :-;, you get the idea. I memorize abreviations fairly quick, but I hate all those colons and semicolns, yuck. I don't know what any of them mean.
wonderwoman

## Post 26 by asdfghjkl (Account disabled) on Thursday, 22-Sep-2005 19:37:42

I admit to it. I used to do it. Sometimes, when I'm trying to go quickly, I will not capitalize or punctuate things, or I may use the common short-hand, but I try not to do it much anymore...