SMS speak

[canuck]

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[Possum]

lol I love the 4th one

[cromasaig]

Baloo, you're a honey. How's this one?

It's either that or a Highland Cow. What do you reckon?

[cromasaig]

Ooh, stilettoes! Think it may have to be those...

[baloo]

I think the Highland Cow is great.

[canuck]

thought you could use some nice shoes

[Burbage]

If the best you can do at maximum effort is not good enough then you are probably crap.

[Aliya]

Love the stilletos woo hoo lady!

[cromasaig]

I think I may alternate between the two, depending on mood. Today, I shall be an opinionated tart in stilettoes.

Tomorrow, I will probably be a cow...

[Possum]

Its stepping over the 100% benchmark expected and landing on the other-side. I consider individual effort more important than success, to a certain degree.

[canuck]

here's a small cow for you to use

[cromasaig]

Thank you Canuck, Baloo et al!

I was having problems working out how to shrink my cow.

[azzam]

I have a friend with an MA in English, who teaches English at tertiary level, who has studied Singlish from a linguistics perspsective and written papers on..no better not say that, will identify him too easily to those who might know. One of the most intelligent people I know and member of Mensa.
He uses SMS speak at times, loves using extreme Singlish. He sees it as playing with language and has fun with it.
Don't judge a book by its cover, indeed!

[Burbage]

And I've seen millionaires in rags. They also are the exceptions.

Effort is to be applauded. But I'd still rather have a doctor (for example) who is effortlessly technically excellent than one who puts a lot of effort in but is still crap.

[Aliya]

I love Singlish, think it is a brilliant way to tie in English and Chinese - English words, Chinese syntax. Very clever one!

[Burbage]

There's nothing wrong with grunting either, the problem comes when you want to say something complex.

[cromasaig]

You're right that language changes and it must evolve to stay vibrant and useful. But development and disregard are not the same thing.

If your friend chooses to step outside the boundaries to have fun with language then fair play to him. But I don't think he's typical of the people using SMS speak out of context. Besides, if he teaches English then I assume that he considers the correct use of English a valuable thing. Otherwise, why would he have made it his life's work?

[Possum]

Effort in career endeavors and effort in personal achievements fall into separate success categories.
Saying that, there are excellent doctors that treat the condition and are very good at what they do but they fail to step over the line and away from what they know and treat the cause. By extending themselves (taking a holistic approach) and going beyond what is expected of them they can then have 101% status

[Burbage]

Effort in career endeavors and effort in personal achievements fall into separate success categories.
Saying that, there are excellent doctors that treat the condition and are very good at what they do but they fail to step over the line and away from what they know and treat the cause. By extending themselves (taking a holistic approach) and going beyond what is expected of them they can then have 101% status

Try saying that in Singlish. I'm not even sure it makes sense in English.

[Burbage]

Effort is essentially soialist thinking. It comes from the mistaken idea that everyone can excel if they try hard enough. Which is, of course, utter bollocks. Those who excel have natural ability in that particular field of endeavour. Of course, the more effort they put in the better they will be, but even without effort they'll be better than someone without natural ability who tries their guts out.

Fair? No. Life? Yes.

[azzam]

You're right that language changes and it must evolve to stay vibrant and useful. But development and disregard are not the same thing.

If your friend chooses to step outside the boundaries to have fun with language then fair play to him. But I don't think he's typical of the people using SMS speak out of context. Besides, if he teaches English then I assume that he considers the correct use of English a valuable thing. Otherwise, why would he have made it his life's work?

Do Scotsmen use English correctly? I grew up with Scots and English, but still can't undrestand certain Scottish brogues. Have you ever tried reading a book written in a Scots voice? Even with my background I gave up.
It's not quite the same argument as SMS speak - I think that's largely done for convenience and to save costs on messaging - but I think we should be careful before knocking people's ability with language and relating it to intelligence.

edit: Did anyone see that doco last night on kids with stammers. Sheesh! Those poor little buggers. Talk about frustration.

[Scrummy Mummy]

Cromasaig: I think you must be my twin and we were separated at birth. I DETEST SMS speak. It makes me assume someone's a fuckwit (which of course may not be true) whereas poor grammar wouldn't necessarily.

(I think a highland cow on a soapbox would be cool )

[Possum]

[quote="Burbage
Try saying that in Singlish. I'm not even sure it makes sense in English.[/quote]
Cannot lah my Singlish is worser than my English

[Burbage]

Let us summarise.

We all appear to agree that people who use SMS speak might not necessarily be intellectually sub-par.

We also appear to agree that most of them will be.

[Tack]

If someone types "lyke" to save letters then I might judge them!