The Internet and the English Language By Eric Tindall
Overview With so many people using the Internet one would expect peoples writing skills to improve. Peoples writing skills are actually getting worse because of shorthand Example: A woman could type 80 wpm with perfect grammar for her work. When it came to her she used net-jargon like thx, how R U, and cul8r.
Evolution or Devolution The Internet was originally developed to transfer files quickly. Nowadays people use the Internet to send and chat with people from around the world. Communication between people is fast paced and this leads to smaller words and abbreviations.
In Praise of Words Although communication on the Internet is written, the way it sounds is closer to two people talking together. Internet users tend to “speak” in a loose and informal tone. Internet users are now using a form of stenographers shorthand by leaving out large word. Traditional secretarial contractions such as wrt (with respect to) are now in the same league as (grin) and LOL (laugh out loud ).
The “Invisible Person” Syndrome Most people are anonymous on the Internet. This leads to the mentality of why strive for perfect English when no one knows or cares who you are.
Training and Tools A lack of computer training can be one cause of using poor English. A person with good writing skills will start to cut corners to save time so they can spend more time learning about the Internet. Spell checkers are a good tool but they are not perfect. People tend to add words to the spell checker that are incorrect leading to a dictionary with miss spelled words.
All Things Must Change Language has always changed with time. For example the medieval chariot started to be called a carriage and now it is called a car. Popular words and expressions become part of the English language over time. This is how language evolves. People have their own set of writing rules when communicating over the Internet. Whether this is good or bad is yet to be determined.
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