Internet English

I've noticed a growing trend among internet users, especially in IM exchanges and in chat rooms. I see a lot of people purposely misspelling words for who knows what reasons. To be cute? I just can‘t see the point of it. It’s one thing for a momentary gag, but it’s quite another as continual, regular usage. I fail to find the idea of adults using what amounts to baby talk in public on an ongoing basis to be amusing

I'm not including typos and honest misspellings in this rant, which I don't have as big of a problem with, because they're just unintentional mistakes, not done deliberately.

Let me give some examples. I regularly see people writing "wiff" for with, "nuffin" for nothing, “enuff“ for enough, “sawee” for sorry, and the like. And this type of silliness isn’t coming from just fourteen year old girls, either. Most of the examples I’ve seen have come from otherwise literate adults in their 40s and 50s!

And then there’s the cryptic “CU L8TR, RU OK?” type of pseudo-writing, which is now still pretty much confined to teenage usage. .

The one that gets my teeth to grinding the most, is "prolly" for probably. I am very sorry, but "prolly" is NOT a word! Hell, we don’t even pronounce it that way! I'll bet there are some preteens online right now who think this and other bastardizations are real words in the dictionary.

Not only that, adults using this bastard language online consistently will get so used to it that it will one day carry over into their real life communications. Imagine....trying to get a job when you've written "wiff", "nuffin", "enuff", “sawee” and "prolly" on your application or resume!

Thanks for listening. Stepping off the soapbox now.