Text Talk: It's robbing u of basic knowledge. lol.

You know what I hate? Text talk. And it is rampant these days. It seems I receive at least one text message a day with "lol" in it. Or "g2g!" or "u" instead of "you." People use the letter "b" instead of simply adding ONE MORE freaking letter to make a real word. And I am fed up with this!

Now yes, I feel that it is important to know the differences between "your" and "you're" and "there", "they're" and "their." Also important is realizing when it is appropriate to use "to", "too" and "two" but these seem like common sense problems that can be fixed with a little bit of grammatical, and spelling, knowledge. It's this damn text talk that really gets my goat.

Not only is it lazy but it's irritating. In my opinion, it makes me think that the person sending me a text message is either lazy or illiterate. I will always take the time to spell out the words I'm using to get my point across because it's the right thing to do. When we get into the habit of abbreviating everything, it becomes simply that; a habit. This habit is harmful. It's important, in my opinion, to have a basic knowledge of spelling and appropriate grammar. When we ignore this because we don't feel like typing out words, it can be harmful.

If I were someone's boss and I read an email from my employee in which they used the phrase "lol" or they used "u" instead of "you" I would be disgusted. This is not professional behavior. Now I'm not saying that just because one uses text talk in every day life means that that person uses text talk in a professional setting, but it is possible to slip in said text talk when it has become habitual.

I also realize that text talk is mostly used in a casual conversational setting, mostly with friends and relatives, but still it's gotten to a point where it's taking over! A high school English teacher once told me that she had to actually tell her students that "lol" is not an acceptable word or phrase to use in a formal English paper. I was baffled upon hearing this. And, according to this teacher, it hasn't just happened with one student. Many students are using text talk in English papers that they are handing into teachers. To this I say, we need a change!

With the use of spell check we've become totally lazy when it comes to spelling and grammar. Maybe that's okay because technology has basically taken over and rarely do we need to turn in a formal document that hasn't been spell checked, but still it's important that we have some sort of knowledge of spelling and grammar because what if, god forbid, one day we won't have the use of spell check? And Microsoft Word doesn't always correct every error. Blasphemy you say! Well it's true. Sometimes there are errors that are not caught by spell check. In these cases, it's up to us to know what we're trying to say and to get our point across in an educated manner. So, bring an end to text talk! Or at least try to curb your text talk. Next time you feel tempted to type "u" instead of "you", go the extra mile. Say what you really mean. Show your friends that you are still capable of basic spelling. For my sake.