summary of I h8t txt msgs
Oxendine Page 1
Herbert Oxendine
Mr. Sneed
ENG111
3Sept2014
Summary of the essay “I H8 TXT MSGS: HOW TEXTING IS WRECKING OUR LANGUAGE”
In the essay “I H8 TXT MSGS: HOW TEXTING IS WRECKING OUR LANGUAGE,” author John Humphrys explains how people’s everyday use of texting and computer shorthand is destroying our language (Humphrys 176). People who use proper grammar and punctuation are now being seen as old fashioned and behind the times.
Mr. Humphrys gives an example of how the English language is changing with a reference to the changes made to the Oxford English dictionary. Words like potbelly that in the past used hyphens to separate them are now being put together, just to save a few seconds of typing time (Humphrys 175). Mr. Humphrys discusses how text messages have even changed over the years. They started with only a few abbreviations and emoticons and now there are tons of them. Text messages are becoming more and more complicated to understand because of the exaggerated shorthand. Some of these abbreviations can have more than one meaning which creates some confusion. So instead of saving time the shorthand abbreviation only leaves some recipients bewildered about its meaning.
Mr. Humphrys informs us that it is not too late to save our hand written language (Humphrys 177). Change is Imminent in life and the changing of our language goes hand and hand with social change. Mr. Humphrys is scared that our written language may end up being composed of mostly abbreviations and symbols that seem to change more and more day by day. The author even gives an example of how his writing of emails have changed over the years. He said he has went from typing emails in a letter format with proper grammatical sentences and punctuation, to sloppy emails without capital letters and rows of dots (Humphrys 177). The author ends his article by saying
Herbert Oxendine
Mr. Sneed
ENG111
3Sept2014
Summary of the essay “I H8 TXT MSGS: HOW TEXTING IS WRECKING OUR LANGUAGE”
In the essay “I H8 TXT MSGS: HOW TEXTING IS WRECKING OUR LANGUAGE,” author John Humphrys explains how people’s everyday use of texting and computer shorthand is destroying our language (Humphrys 176). People who use proper grammar and punctuation are now being seen as old fashioned and behind the times.
Mr. Humphrys gives an example of how the English language is changing with a reference to the changes made to the Oxford English dictionary. Words like potbelly that in the past used hyphens to separate them are now being put together, just to save a few seconds of typing time (Humphrys 175). Mr. Humphrys discusses how text messages have even changed over the years. They started with only a few abbreviations and emoticons and now there are tons of them. Text messages are becoming more and more complicated to understand because of the exaggerated shorthand. Some of these abbreviations can have more than one meaning which creates some confusion. So instead of saving time the shorthand abbreviation only leaves some recipients bewildered about its meaning.
Mr. Humphrys informs us that it is not too late to save our hand written language (Humphrys 177). Change is Imminent in life and the changing of our language goes hand and hand with social change. Mr. Humphrys is scared that our written language may end up being composed of mostly abbreviations and symbols that seem to change more and more day by day. The author even gives an example of how his writing of emails have changed over the years. He said he has went from typing emails in a letter format with proper grammatical sentences and punctuation, to sloppy emails without capital letters and rows of dots (Humphrys 177). The author ends his article by saying
Cited: Humphrys, John. "I H8 TXT MSGS: HOW TEXTING IS WRECKING OUR LANGUAGE." The Blair Reader (2011): 174-177. Print.