Wts up. Hw u bn?’ might be something that most of you type when texting your buddies or chatting with them online. But too much of SMS lingo and too many short forms can be annoying, especially for those who prefer to type full words or sentences, and sometimes even proper punctuations while SMSing and chatting online.
One such teen, who is very particular about using proper sentences and punctuation while messaging and chatting, is 19-year-old student Ajooni Singh. “That’s because I’m a grammar Nazi! Actually, it hardly takes longer to write proper sentences and I think SMS lingo sounds stupid. ‘Tat’ for ‘that’ and ‘tht’ for ‘thought’ doesn’t exactly scream IQ over 25, does it?” she asks.While Ajooni is keen about using proper sentences, she still uses abbreviations like ‘Lol’ and ‘Btw’. “If the main purpose of texting and chatting is to communicate, why can’t people just do it in a way that doesn’t look hard to decipher?” she adds.BA student Shreya Sarawagi is another youngster, who believes in using full sentences while messaging and chatting. “I’m very particular about it. It’s really annoying when people use SMS language — everybody has different short forms for different things. It gets so confusing,” she says who often judges people by the way they type.She confesses to having used SMS language a few years ago. “But once I started using the ‘dictionary’ mode on my phone, I started typing full words and punctuations. Besides, dictionary mode is easier to type with. I even type this way while on Gtalk and Facebook — it’s become a habit now,” says Shreya. For law student Bhargavi Raman and her friends, punctuation and full sentences are a preference. “Punctuations matters a lot to law students. I use only full sentences. No ‘shrt sntncs fr me,” laughs the student of NLSIU. Do they judge people by the way they type too? “Not really, because I used to type like them a few years ago. Even if I do get annoyed, I keep it to myself. In my group, some of my friends use SMS language, but not to the extent that people can’t understand what they’re saying,” says Shreya.Bhargavi, on the other hand judges them in a superficial way. “I do form stereotypes by the way people type. I get a feeling of frivolousness when one uses SMS lingo. Though I’m not overly judgmental, it definitely contributes to my opinion about them.”Even if they don’t religiously use punctuations, there are those who still like to use full words and sentences. “I may not put a comma or colon while texting, but I don’t like using short forms and leaving out vowels,” says student Neha B.Looks like ‘dis knd of typn’ can sure be a turn off for some.
Ikyatha Yerasala The Asian Age