TECHNOLOGY
From Issue #15
TECH TALK
An evolving language
By Ted Kritsonis
If u were messaging on your cell would u
key in words properly or use the shortcuts like most
ppl do? Abbreviated sentences have become the
standard lingo for communication through electronic
means. Whether it’s chatting online or sending text
messages, cryptic acronyms like TTYL (talk to you
later) and BTW (by the way) are changing the way
people approach the English language in its written form.
It may be far too early to tell whether or not the
dotcom era will bring any real change to the language
as we know it, but when considering all the ways the
language has evolved over the last 100 years, we
might be using TTYL and BTW a lot more often than
we think.
In 1904, it would have been hard to imagine saying
“would’ve” instead of “would have” or “doesn’t”
instead of “does not” but we do it without hesitation
now. Why? Because language evolves to reflect
changes in society as a whole. It’s probably safe to
say that we’re not as uptight as people might’ve been
back then, and a century is plenty of time for a
society and language to evolve. The examples are all
over the place.
Take slang in the spoken word, for instance. It’s been around
forever, and has even taken on a life of its own in some
circles: ebonics or “Black English” is considered a dialect of
sorts in the United States, thanks to inner-city black youth
and music like rap and hip-hop.
On the written side of things, businessmen and politicians
set the standard for acronyms long ago by shortening their
company and political party names so they could make it
easier for customers and voters to remember them. And if it
weren’t for the Internet and wireless communication, “tech
talk” would probably never be what it is today.
Throughout
this linguistic evolution, technology has played a key role in
driving language to new heights. Cryptanalysts during the
Second World War (1939-1945) used the world’s first
computers to decipher German and Japanese military codes,
and militaries all over the world soon started using their own
languages of cryptic euphemisms and acronyms to operate
with security, which continues to this day through computers
and telecommunications.
“The convenience of
shortening words or
combining them with
acronyms is hard
to
resist...”
The online boom of the last 10 years has created an entirely
different way for people to express themselves, though the
real key to it all is the speed that goes with it.
The convenience of shortening words or combining them with
acronyms is hard to resist, especially in a day and age where
time is a precious resource.
Using shortened variations of words
and phrases has been an accepted
practice for a long time, and that
won’t change anytime soon. But it’s
the technology of the online era that
has provided the speed with which to
do it easily and efficiently. What might
take 20 seconds to type with normal
spelling could take as little as eight
seconds with all the right abbreviations.
That’s a significant drop, and amounts
to a lot of time saved when you
start factoring in the minutes, hours
and days we spend text-messaging
and e-mailing.
Still, regardless of how powerful
online lingo has become, it hasn’t
penetrated all circles yet, and may
have a tough time doing so. The
business world may have helped give
acronyms the role they have today,
but would a corporation endorse the
practice of using LMK (let me know)
and LOL (laugh out loud) in the near
future? It may also take some time
before resumés, formal letters and
newspapers use tech talk, which
seems hypocritical, like a big doublestandard,
after all, what makes ASAP
any different from LMK, or OK any
better than U 2?
The ? is, will ppl run with it, or will it
B just another fad 2 4get about?
Test Your
Tech Talk Quiz
Say What?
 afaict
btw
c u l8tr
dgt
don’t b l8
eod
gtg
lmk
ntk
otoh
pu
rml
GAL
LMAO
OMG
OTOH
TMI
TSWC
2T^
What Am I?
:8)
@>--;--
(0--<
Who Am I?
B-)
@@@@:-)
:-(o)
How’d you do? Answers at bottom of the page.
1-10 correct = kindergarten material
10-15 = barely a passing grade
15-22 = you could teach this stuff
23-25 = the CIA needs you!
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