I’ve succumbed to some abbreviations in text messages, but all my other writing remains immaculately structured, written, and spell-checked. So when my paternal cousin, who is seventeen years younger than me, added me on Facebook recently, I was shocked at the “English” she left splattered across my Wall:
Cousin:
hey baji!hw r u?cute pic khekhekhe hope evrifinz f9….tc peace!
Baraka:
Hey honey, nice to see you here! Alhamdolillah all is well in San Francisco - how are things in Lahore? Give my salaams & love to your family!
Cousin:
hey sym er baji….finz r goin awryt….evri1z bz in xamz man….pray 4us!!!mom sa w/s n keep in tch!!khekhekhe…
—
I truly fear for the future of literature…and the world.
22 comments
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May 9, 2008 at 8:54 am
otowi
Oh, I’d like to be your friend on Facebook!
I wouldn’t write such strange stuff on your wall - promise.
May 9, 2008 at 10:36 am
non-Muslim Wandering Past
It’s worse than you think, there is actually organized efforts to get such spelling (and I use the word with tongue in cheek) adopted by educators.
If you search the BBC Online News website, youcan see more of that, but this makes for a good primer:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6250184.stm
I never complain if people write “informally” - but “texty” language to me simply boils down to people being plain lazy. If that’s the best we can do educationally, then we’re *really* in trouble.
May 9, 2008 at 11:48 am
yasmine
hahahahaha! can’t stop laughing!
i had to squint and re-read your cousin’s sentences a few times, too, just to get it. man, i feel old. and those ‘khekhekhe’s of hers are just cracking me up.
i refuse to succumb to abbreviations and proper grammar even in text-messaging. a friend of mine recently asked, ‘umm, you know all those commas you use in text-messages? are they supposed to be there?’ hahaha
May 9, 2008 at 11:49 am
Mezba
LOL i gt chkout ur wall i gt a czn same bye
May 9, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Meghan Hils
Wow. Yeah, even I get scared sometimes…on the occasional text message I do send, it’s so easy to just abandon decent communication for quick abbreviations that will eventually make no sense, LOL. Thankfully I usually manage to write normally on my wall and stuff…wow. The Myspace and Facebook generation. *hides in the back of the library*
Assalaamu aleykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh
May 9, 2008 at 12:43 pm
extiinct
Uff! Written english like that infuriates me! And I for some reason am unable to ignore it. If anyone posts on my wall in that type of written English, I make it a point to tell them to use proper spellings. My logic is simple. My wall, my rules. And I like my English spell checked and complete.
It was awkward to ask people to leave messages in proper English but after I’d done it once or twice, I felt much better. Or maybe I just got dheet =)
May 9, 2008 at 12:56 pm
gulnari
That looks like she’s talking in TXTMSGish
khekhekhe!
May 9, 2008 at 7:26 pm
ABD
In your cousin’s defense:
1) Please remove the second comma from “but all my other writing remains immaculately structured, written, and spell-checked” (okay, so there is a legitimate ikhtilaf on this issue).
2) Please change “who is seventeen years younger than me” to “who is seventeen years younger than I”.
May 9, 2008 at 9:05 pm
~W~
I cannot even understand what your cousin wrote! This new language is finding its way to spoken English as well. The other way I when I was talking to my 11 year old son, he blurted “brb”!
May 10, 2008 at 4:25 am
umarah
well it is at least fun to read if nothing else
May 10, 2008 at 6:36 am
Umm Salihah
Assalam-alaikam Barakah,
My sisters and best friend e-mail me every day and this is how they write, I write back in long sentences. I would do the same to them, but I can’t seem to get the hang of the text version, it is a bit lazy though. Also it takes longer to read because you have to decipher it like some kind of code.
I like her laugh though
khekhekhe
Might just send that back next time the girls e-mail me in their code language.
May 10, 2008 at 8:19 am
Baraka
Salaams dear friends:
Otowi: Good to see you again & it’s nice to connect on Facebook!
Moonwolf: I can’t believe they’re even thinking of that! I agree, informal is fine, but using this type of language all the time is ridiculous. Of course, my cousin is a very smart young lady, so it doesn’t seem to have hurt her brain cells - just mine!
Yasmine: Yeah, I sent you a text once and used an abbreviation and felt quite conscious about it when I recalled your elegantly typed texts to me!
I love her “khekhekhe” too, especially as it reminds me of the Urdu work kehka which is a type of laugh. So perhaps this is a form of indigenous texting!
Mezba:
Meghan: Walaykum asalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatahu! I know we drive older generations crazy with our characteristics too. I’m sure our language is not as powerful and pure as theirs was, but I hope that this type of language never becomes the norm in an educational setting.
Extiinct: My Dad’s favorite word for me is dheet so it must be a good thing!
Gulnari:
ABD: It may be less proper to use “me” but I’m in the company of Richardson, Byron and Faulkner by doing it!
Also, since you prefer Cousinese, I shall be sure to send the next other|matters post to you in it!
~W~: That is too funny about your son!
Umarah: There is that
Umm Salihah: Walaykum asalaam dear! It takes a long time to read and to write it, for me at least. I suppose once one is used to it, it just rolls off the fingers.
Do use her laugh, I think it’s cute
Warmly,
Baraka
May 10, 2008 at 8:36 am
dreamessence
I think sometimes it takes MUCH more of an effort to type like your cousin did than to type with using proper spelling and grammar. Kids these days! It’s sad
May 10, 2008 at 3:16 pm
VARANGALI
Man oh man, I’m too old for Facebook.
May 11, 2008 at 2:40 am
Achelois
khekhekhe…
May 11, 2008 at 5:12 pm
sheilaX
Shalom,
So true; and what’s worse, I can’t seem to catch up with all the slang and shortcuts. It’s even infecting e-mails and blog comments.
http://higher-criticism.com
May 11, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Basil
W/E! No QQs from me. G2 get w/it & <3 it. Futrz comn babz…
May 12, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Madeline
wtf?
May 12, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Baraka
Salaams,
Dreamessence: I think it does take a lot of effort but I suppose once you get used to it, it’s quite easy.
Varangali: I often feel the same way.
Achelois:
SheilaX: Welcome and good to see you on the new blog!
Basil: Thank goodness we were in the same room when I read this because until you translated I had no idea what you’d written!
(”Whatever! No tears from me. Got to get with it and love it. Future is coming babes.” )
Madeline: Exactly. As long as the “F” stands for “frack”.
Warmly,
Baraka
May 14, 2008 at 2:00 am
ABD
as-salam alaykum,
take heart, you’re not alone:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/99-grammar/
May 16, 2008 at 6:53 am
maximus mercury
oh dear - I know I’m late to the party here, but I got my own shock on exactly this a minute ago: my 9 year old niece, writing to me using ‘da’ and ‘thanz’ and ‘how r u’. What are they teaching them in school if they have trouble composing a simple letter???
I am going to be pedantic and try to address this directly with her.
May 16, 2008 at 10:05 am
mskoonj
You know, this sounds bad but it’s the desis back home that are worse than anyone else. There, the grownups engage in pre-teen textiness and don’t seem to recognize that there’s a time and a place to be texty.