I’m Book Not 404

Every so often on my commute home I pick up and flick through the very reliable source that is mX.

An interesting article suggested that some research has shown modern technology and Gen Y are driving changes in the English language. What I found interesting was that these changes were beyond the point of lols and 1337 speak.

Due mostly to the limited characters available when sending an SMS, 404, a reference to a website fault means clueless. And the predictive text for the word cool first produces book, which as a result has given it a second meaning.

Nenagh Kemp, psychologist from the University of Tasmania, suggested that this type of English was not dulling our language skills, but in fact part of the language’s natural evolution.

Interesting. Now please stop telling me that my generation is ruining everything. I’m off to fix the economy and deal with Global Warming… assholes.

3 Comments
  • Matt Granfield
    Posted at December 12, 2008 4:06pm, 12 December Reply

    I think you’re spot on Zac – it’s 3vltn 🙂 lol

  • Lee
    Posted at December 18, 2008 3:18pm, 18 December Reply

    I think I’m the only one in the universe who still uses punctuation in SMS.

    It slows me down but I can’t seem to let go of putting full stops in, using capitals and spelling words out.

    Although thanks to trusty Wikipedia I now know how to say “The leet hacker ate my sandwich.”

    t3h l337 |-|4×02 473 m4h 54|||)vv1[|-|

    I can’t imagine needing much more than that phrase and once again Wikipedia has enriched my life.

    I have become quite sloppy with my Twitter tweets though.

    🙁

  • Anonymous
    Posted at December 22, 2008 4:49pm, 22 December Reply

    Its not really a loss of traditional English but more of a move toward phonetic English.
    Back in the day when you paid per character on each sms there was a real need to abbreviate messages into a simple phonetic code.
    In line with instant messaging services this trend has born its own language which is finding its way into job applications and university essays.
    In Germany this trend is so great that traditional Germanic words are being re-written to accommodate a new generation

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