# "Text-speak" in New Zealand Schools



## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand's high school students will be able to use "text-speak" - the mobile phone text message language beloved of teenagers - in national exams this year, officials said Friday. 

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/061109/K110902U.html


Here are excerpts from some of Shakespeare's most famous soliloquies translated into text speak. I did not write them since I am officially text illiterate. They are from an article in which politicians are condemning the use of text-speak in exams. See if you can figure them out –answers below.

1) "2 b, r nt 2 b dat iz d Q wthr ts noblr n d mnd 2 sufr d slngs & arowz of outrAjs fortn r 2 tAk armz agnst a C f trblz, & by oposn nd em?"

2) "bt, sft! wot lIt thru yndr wndo brAkz? Ts d Est, & Juliet iz d sn. ArIs, fair sn, & kil d envios m%n, hu iz alredi sk & pAl w grEf, dat thou hr mAd art fr mo fair thn she."

3) "& gntlmn n Englnd, nw a-bed shl fnk thmslvs acrsd dey wr not hr, & hld thr mnh%dz chEp whl NE spk dat fort w us on St Crspns dA."

4) "2mrw & 2mrw & 2mrw crEpz n dis pety plAs frm dA 2 dA 2 d lst silabl of rcrdd tIm & al our ystdAz hv lItd f%lz d way 2 dsty def...tis a tAl tld by an ejit, ful of snd & fury sgnfyn nutin."








1) "To be, or not to be: that is the question: / Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles / And by opposing end them?" (Hamlet, Act Three, Scene One)

2) "But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? / It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. / Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, / Who is already sick and pale with grief, / That thou her maid art far more fair than she." (Romeo and Juliet, Act Two, Scene Two)

3) "And gentlemen in England now abed / Shall think themselves accursed they were not here / And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks / That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day." (Henry V, Act Four, Scene Three)

4) "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow / Creeps in this petty place from day to day / To the last syllable of recorded time / And all our yesterdays have lighted fools / The way to dusty death. ...it is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury / Signifying nothing." (Macbeth, Act Five, Scene Five)

Reference

http://www.24dash.com/education/12440.htm


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## Guest (Nov 10, 2006)

That explains why so many of the younger generation spelling is so bad. It looks like that lots of times even when they are not trying to text! 

Hmm I suddenly feel old. I used to laugh at people when they said things like I just did about about the "younger generation' ... DOH.


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## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

Pffft... Whatever, everyone hates me, what do you care? You just don't understand what it's like to be a twizzle these days. Can I have a pony?


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Vexel, not quite sure what a "twizzle" is exactly, but re the pony, yes you can have a pony, but no you may not.


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## mrjimmy (Nov 8, 2003)

At first I thought this was a total joke, but no...

One part of me totally agrees with this statement (from the article):



> High School principal Denis Pyatt said he wouldn't encourage students to use text abbreviations in exams - but he was excited by the language development.
> 
> "I think text messaging is one of the most exciting things that has happened in a long time. It is another development in that wonderful thing we call the English language," he said.


Language is dynamic and should evolve. 

On the other hand, this, is a bit extreme. I'm wondering what the benefit would be to the language and therfore ourselves.


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

"Language is dynamic and should evolve." Mrjimmy, you are a linguist at heart. This is a very truthful statement.


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## grafico (Mar 25, 2005)

In order for us wise old folks to understand the English of the future, some company will have to come up with software in order to be able to translate stuff like this.


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Good point, grafico. I am still waiting for a translation for the word "twizzle". As for the can/may debate about having a pony, that was just striking a blow for proper grammatical usage.


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## VNJ85 (Feb 24, 2006)

I think it is rediculous, and people wonder why more and more kids are developing learning disabilities... 

I'm only 21, I highly doubt most kids text like that. I know there are a lot of abbreviations when younger kids text, but not to the extent as shown in the first post. I do a lot of texting and do similar things to cut corners, but i think the examples shown are highly exaggerated.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

I hope everyone realizes that until several hundred years after Shakespeare was writing, there was _no such thing_ as standardized spelling.

It was not just common for Shakespeare and colleagues to spell the same words, including proper names, differently, as the mood struck them, they would also have been entirely surprised at the notion that words should be spelled the same way consistently.

And, by the way, Shakespeare was writing in modern English, which dates to around the late fifteenth century and after, about 100 years prior.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

Dr.G. said:


> Good point, grafico. I am still waiting for a translation for the word "twizzle". As for the can/may debate about having a pony, that was just striking a blow for proper grammatical usage.


I found a reference to "twizzle" on the Palm site, but I still have no idea what it means:

http://www.freeware-palm.com/download-twizzle.html


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Sinc, thank you for this edification, but I am still perplexed.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

I a like the development as well- it may force a bit more rational English tho I mourn the loss of rooves and swum and other Olde English hanger-on.

Dr. G didn't you have an article about how mangled language could be and still be read easily as long as certain key phonemes were present and in the right order?

Seems to me text speak is merely a real life expression of that "understandable but not proper spelling" phenomena.

It opens new possibilities in written poetry beyond old e.e.

I do think tho it might be wise to tread cautiously in schools except perhaps in a creative writing class.

One still must communicate - I had little problem reading the text - perhaps online exposure and my daughters influence makes it familar tho I don't text message personally.

If it becomes a modern and organically evolved Esperanto tho  well........:clap: - t'would do the world no harm IMNSHO


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

MacDoc, I give my students both of these passages to demonstrate the use of context over graphophonic cues, and the use of spell checkers on a computer.

"I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg. 
It is an elxampe of the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig
to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr
the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist
and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and
you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid
deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig
huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt!"

"Eye halve a spelling chequer It came with my pea sea It plainly marques
four my revue Miss steaks eye kin knot sea. Eye strike a key and type a
word And weight four it two say Weather eye am wrong oar write It shows
me strait a weigh. As soon as a mist ache is maid It nose bee fore two
long And eye can put the error rite Its rare lea ever wrong. Eye have
run this poem threw it I am shore your pleased two no Its letter perfect
awl the weigh My chequer tolled me sew."


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Strange both the sample you show here and the txtspk have a cadence that reminds me of old English.


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## SkyHook (Jan 23, 2001)

>


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## FeXL (Jan 2, 2004)

Dr.G. said:


> "Language is dynamic and should evolve." Mrjimmy, you are a linguist at heart. This is a very truthful statement.


Yes, but shouldn't the dynamics be progressive, rather than regressive?


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

FeXL, a valid point. However, only time will tell if this change is regressive or progressive.


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## AppleAuthority (May 21, 2005)

Is texting really that bad? None of the people I know text message like that. Those examples are about as readable to me as Chinese.

For the record, I disagree with using "text-speak" in exams. Especially if in New Zealand, that's the kind of "text-speak" (dialect?) they use.


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## FeXL (Jan 2, 2004)

Dr.G. said:


> FeXL, a valid point. However, only time will tell if this change is regressive or progressive.


Dr.G., there is a time & place for most language dynamics, whether the Queen's English at high tea, beer talk with the boys at the corner pub or sweet nothings whispered into a lover's ear.

However, I firmly believe that any _learning institution_ which endorses texting as an acceptable form of communication _in an academic environment_ is regressing.

$0.02


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

FeXL, for what it's worth, I don't deny my students using text-like writing, but I request them to tell me what it means. As well, I reply to them with my own venacular, so they have to ask me what ROtFPWtDaLOL means
(Rolling On the Floor Playing With the Doxies and Laughing Out Loud).


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