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INTERNET SHORTHAND SETS BACK GRAMMAR
SKILLS
By Richard
Petz
Seeing the letters BRB or LOL or the symbols :-), or :-( might confuse you but they are all part of Internet shorthand.
Developed back in 1963, although never patented, the idea came from Harvey Ball; he was the first one to say that this :-), could equal this
. Later in 1979, Kevin McKenzie of the Arpanet’s MsgGroup suggested that these symbols be developed further so that emotion, such as sarcasm, could be expressed in text.
The problem seems to be that Internet shorthand is slipping into students’ normal schoolwork. Children who are growing up on the Internet are not able to decipher when to use proper grammar, and when it is okay to use shorthand.
Some grade school students who use the Internet are not able to even tell the difference between the two languages.An example of this was written by a 13 year old, which appeared in The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper, “My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :- kids FTF. ILNY, it’s a gr8 plc.” This translates to: “My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York. It’s a great place.” The teacher said that she was unable to even read it.
HaZard, a 17 male online user who tutors elementary school students said that he sees online shorthand being used on schoolwork all the time. “They forget to mark the capitals, end sentences, and put in commas.” HaZard said
This could mean that our language is changing, and evolving to encompass this “World of The Wired,” that we know live in. Shaheed N. Mohammed, PhD, assistant professor, media arts, Marist College, Poughkeepsie NY, said that this would not be the first time that a language has developed for practical purposes. He said that although vowels in Arabic act as accent marks, and are taught to children in school, they are not used in newspapers or most other writing.
Mohammed said that it is, “Not a decline of language. It may mean that they (children) are less skilled in formal language.” He said that this is an obvious disadvantage right now during the early stages of Internet shorthand where it is only a select group that are able to understand all of the symbols and abbreviations.
So although there might one day be a language revolution, for now it seems that students will have to separate these two worlds and just consider themselves bilingual.