2b? Nt2b? ???

[Guest]

I have no particular comment on this news but I cannot help but wonder how English itself (or other languages) might change or transform simply through text messaging (nevermind the impact of cyberspace at large), especially given its use by children and young adults. I'm well read on the history of English and on the nature of Language, but this particular phenomenon causes me to recall how English was created; might text message spellings be the Angles, Saxons and Jutes of our time?

Perdita

Project Reduces Classics in Text Messages - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Nov. 17, 2005

LONDON (AP) -- ''Romeo, Romeo -- wher4 Rt thou Romeo?'' It could be the future of Shakespeare.

Dot mobile, a British mobile-phone service aimed at students, says it plans to condense classic works of literature into SMS text messages. The company claims the service will be a valuable resource for studying for exams.

Academic purists will be horrified. Hamlet's famous soliloquy, ''To be or not to be, that is the question,'' becomes ''2b? Nt2b? ???'' John Milton's epic poem, ''Paradise Lost,'' begins, ''devl kikd outa hevn coz jelus of jesus&strts war.'' (The devil is kicked out of heaven because he is jealous of Jesus and starts a war.)

Some may dismiss the summaries as cheat notes for an attention-deficit generation, but John Sutherland, a University College London English professor who consulted on the project, said they could act as a useful memory aid. ''The educational opportunities it offers are immense,'' said Sutherland, who chaired the judging panel for this year's Booker Prize for fiction.

Sutherland said the compressed nature of text messages allowed them to ''filet out the important elements in a plot.'' ''Take, for example, the ending to Jane Eyre -- 'MadwyfSetsFyr2Haus.' (Mad wife sets fire to house.) Was ever a climax better compressed?''

But political commentator and author Oliver Kamm said the terse texts were ''more than a travesty.'' ''What you lose with text messaging in literature is what makes literature what it is -- the imagery, the irony the nuance,'' he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. ''I fear ... that students will be encouraged not to read the books but to settle for something else, and people don't need excuses not to read books.''

Books planned for the service include Charles Dickens' ''Bleak House,'' whose tale of the interminable legal suit of Jarndyce and Jarndyce is reduced to a few snappy lines, and Jane Austen's ''Pride and Prejudice,'' which describes hunky Mr. Darcy as ''fit&loadd'' (handsome and wealthy).

Dot mobile said it planned to launch the service in January, with Shakespeare's complete works available by April. The texts will be free to subscribers to the company's phone service.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I have no particular comment on this news but I cannot help but wonder how English itself (or other languages) might change or transform simply through text messaging (nevermind the impact of cyberspace at large), especially given its use by children and young adults. I'm well read on the history of English and on the nature of Language, but this particular phenomenon causes me to recall how English was created; might text message spellings be the Angles, Saxons and Jutes of our time?

Perdita

Project Reduces Classics in Text Messages - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Nov. 17, 2005

LONDON (AP) -- ''Romeo, Romeo -- wher4 Rt thou Romeo?'' It could be the future of Shakespeare.

Dot mobile, a British mobile-phone service aimed at students, says it plans to condense classic works of literature into SMS text messages. The company claims the service will be a valuable resource for studying for exams.

Academic purists will be horrified. Hamlet's famous soliloquy, ''To be or not to be, that is the question,'' becomes ''2b? Nt2b? ???'' John Milton's epic poem, ''Paradise Lost,'' begins, ''devl kikd outa hevn coz jelus of jesus&strts war.'' (The devil is kicked out of heaven because he is jealous of Jesus and starts a war.)

Some may dismiss the summaries as cheat notes for an attention-deficit generation, but John Sutherland, a University College London English professor who consulted on the project, said they could act as a useful memory aid. ''The educational opportunities it offers are immense,'' said Sutherland, who chaired the judging panel for this year's Booker Prize for fiction.

Sutherland said the compressed nature of text messages allowed them to ''filet out the important elements in a plot.'' ''Take, for example, the ending to Jane Eyre -- 'MadwyfSetsFyr2Haus.' (Mad wife sets fire to house.) Was ever a climax better compressed?''

But political commentator and author Oliver Kamm said the terse texts were ''more than a travesty.'' ''What you lose with text messaging in literature is what makes literature what it is -- the imagery, the irony the nuance,'' he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. ''I fear ... that students will be encouraged not to read the books but to settle for something else, and people don't need excuses not to read books.''

Books planned for the service include Charles Dickens' ''Bleak House,'' whose tale of the interminable legal suit of Jarndyce and Jarndyce is reduced to a few snappy lines, and Jane Austen's ''Pride and Prejudice,'' which describes hunky Mr. Darcy as ''fit&loadd'' (handsome and wealthy).

Dot mobile said it planned to launch the service in January, with Shakespeare's complete works available by April. The texts will be free to subscribers to the company's phone service.

It would seem reducing classics to menonics wouldn't be so terrible. I stilluse roy G. Biv when I need to remember the color scale in a rainbow. If it's simpler for someone to reduce a work to shorthand and re code it on an exam, no one complains.

It's easier form to remeber most things longhand, but some people I know who took shorthand can retain the short hand versions of things longer and more accurately.

As long as reading the original is still required, I don't see a problem with it as a memory aide. It wouldn't work for me, but on the whole, few people commit things to memory the way I do. to each his own

 

[matriarch]

Everyone has their own preferred methods of remembering something, when the original is not to hand for reference. Shortened forms, memory aids, for exam revision, phone numbers, addresses, names, are all in common usage on a daily basis, and with some people they do not even realise they are doing this.

As long as the original texts are still there to be read and enjoyed, and the performances are there, breathing life into the magic of the words, imbuing them with that 'imagery' and 'nuance' so essential to appreciation, then what matters it, should students of the 21st century, use 21st century technology to help them remember the original words. However short the texting and memory aids, what they leave in the students heads is still the full text, in all its beauty and majesty.

 

[EggShellBoy]

we all need to remember that accepted agreed spelling is a relatively modern phenomenon and that is one of the joys of english as a language.

we also need ot remember that language does indeed evolve. i'm sure i'm correct in thinking that ancient hebrew didnt write the vowels - sounds a lt lk txt 2 me.

it is aslo ture taht as lnog as the fsrit and lsat lteers of a wrod are in the rhigt pcale tehn we can raed and udsnternad tehm.

i guess what i'm saying is "lets not get too precious about texts or language lets just go along for the ride"

 

[Selena_Kitt]

'MadwyfSetsFyr2Haus.' (Mad wife sets fire to house.) Was ever a climax better compressed?''

That thud I just heard?
Yep... Bronte rolling over in her grave...

egads!

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Hi ya, Perdita.

Reading that piece reminds me how nice it is to be old enough to ignore all that trendy crap. One can only hope text-messaging has no more lasting or negative impact on the English language than did Classics Illustrated comic books.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Show me one piece of writing that looks better in text messaging format and I'll consider it.

As it is, as soon as I see that crap anywhere, my eyes do a quick peel and fade. It used to be kind of cute. Now it's just the signature of a sixth-grade mind at work.

As for mnemonics, anyone who needs to cheat to remember the plot of a story or book shouldn't be studying English inthe first place.

 

[oggbashan]

Precis

Perhaps the art of precis is not dead.

I had to write several precises as part of my English Language examinations at age 16, 17 and 18.

I still find the technique very useful for concentrating on the essence of a long and involved text.

If Pepys could write so much in shorthand, maybe there is hope yet.

However Shakespeare without the wonderful language is a poor shadow of the real thing.

Og

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Perhaps the art of precis is not dead.

I had to write several precises as part of my English Language examinations at age 16, 17 and 18.
Og

That was one long mother of an exam, Og.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Show me one piece of writing that looks better in text messaging format and I'll consider it.

As it is, as soon as I see that crap anywhere, my eyes do a quick peel and fade. It used to be kind of cute. Now it's just the signature of a sixth-grade mind at work.

As for mnemonics, anyone who needs to cheat to remember the plot of a story or book shouldn't be studying English inthe first place.

I memorized the quadratic equation to get through chemistry. I found I didn't need to memorize the specific formulae for anything I needed, I could derive it from the equation at need. I just had to remember what the concepteps told me was needed. I didn't consider it cheating, just using my memory to best advantage.

I use boyles law all the time when working with my dive tables when diving. But I don't need to remember thelaw of partial pressures, I just have to remember how to use the tables.

If you can memorize things in that jargon better, I don't see it as a problem.

I personally can't make heads nor tails of most of it. But I think that's more being intentionally unwilling to learn

 

[cloudy]

I stilluse roy G. Biv when I need to remember the color scale in a rainbow.

and here I thought that was just a retail thing.

 

[Juicextractor]

I have no particular comment on this news but I cannot help but wonder how English itself (or other languages) might change or transform simply through text messaging (nevermind the impact of cyberspace at large), especially given its use by children and young adults. I'm well read on the history of English and on the nature of Language, but this particular phenomenon causes me to recall how English was created; might text message spellings be the Angles, Saxons and Jutes of our time?

Perdita

Project Reduces Classics in Text Messages - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Nov. 17, 2005

LONDON (AP) -- ''Romeo, Romeo -- wher4 Rt thou Romeo?'' It could be the future of Shakespeare.

Dot mobile, a British mobile-phone service aimed at students, says it plans to condense classic works of literature into SMS text messages. The company claims the service will be a valuable resource for studying for exams.

Academic purists will be horrified. Hamlet's famous soliloquy, ''To be or not to be, that is the question,'' becomes ''2b? Nt2b? ???'' John Milton's epic poem, ''Paradise Lost,'' begins, ''devl kikd outa hevn coz jelus of jesus&strts war.'' (The devil is kicked out of heaven because he is jealous of Jesus and starts a war.)

Some may dismiss the summaries as cheat notes for an attention-deficit generation, but John Sutherland, a University College London English professor who consulted on the project, said they could act as a useful memory aid. ''The educational opportunities it offers are immense,'' said Sutherland, who chaired the judging panel for this year's Booker Prize for fiction.

Sutherland said the compressed nature of text messages allowed them to ''filet out the important elements in a plot.'' ''Take, for example, the ending to Jane Eyre -- 'MadwyfSetsFyr2Haus.' (Mad wife sets fire to house.) Was ever a climax better compressed?''

But political commentator and author Oliver Kamm said the terse texts were ''more than a travesty.'' ''What you lose with text messaging in literature is what makes literature what it is -- the imagery, the irony the nuance,'' he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. ''I fear ... that students will be encouraged not to read the books but to settle for something else, and people don't need excuses not to read books.''

Books planned for the service include Charles Dickens' ''Bleak House,'' whose tale of the interminable legal suit of Jarndyce and Jarndyce is reduced to a few snappy lines, and Jane Austen's ''Pride and Prejudice,'' which describes hunky Mr. Darcy as ''fit&loadd'' (handsome and wealthy).

Dot mobile said it planned to launch the service in January, with Shakespeare's complete works available by April. The texts will be free to subscribers to the company's phone service.

My opinion is, Shakespear was actually originally, a short-hand writer as a profession, so I think his quotes being translated into text speak would bring a smile to his face. As long as our children still learn proper english at school and just use the texts for their purpose, I can see that in some ways they may become lazy writers, using text speak in their everyday writing activities, but as long as they use it wisely, and understand the importance of proper literacy, it may even serve to enhance their language skills over time. I watched an interactive quiz on television the other week and it was basically questions on all aspects of the english language and it amazed me to see that the number of new words created on a daily basis that filter into our lives is really an eye opener. Our laguage changes all the time, so as with everything else, it must move on and we must adapt. Language and it's uses are fun, it's amazing what you can do with it!

 

[TheEarl]

Ye Gods.

The Earl

PS. For Fforde AFficiandos, that summary should be MadAchrnHdsSetsFyr2Haus

 

[Juicextractor]

It would seem reducing classics to menonics wouldn't be so terrible. I stilluse roy G. Biv when I need to remember the color scale in a rainbow. If it's simpler for someone to reduce a work to shorthand and re code it on an exam, no one complains.

It's easier form to remeber most things longhand, but some people I know who took shorthand can retain the short hand versions of things longer and more accurately.

As long as reading the original is still required, I don't see a problem with it as a memory aide. It wouldn't work for me, but on the whole, few people commit things to memory the way I do. to each his own

I use roygbiv too! I thought I was the only one on the planet!!! on a further note, I use a similar system which enables me to remember the top line on the periodic table of the elements from 13 years ago!!! (I know I'm sad!) Another funny thing is, in music lessons at school, our teacher was telling us that most people spell the word 'RHYTHM' wrong, so she came up with a way of remembering it, each beginning letter spell out the word RHYTHM -- Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move see, isn't that the beauty of language!

 

[rgraham666]

Can't say I'm fond of the idea. I can't help but think that the beauty of the texts will be lost.

On the other hand, important parts of communication have been lost before.

I recall hearing that medieval troubadours were the news services of the Middle Ages, and that they could remember 1,000 line songs on first hearing.

That ended when the printing press came about and it was easier to write things down.

We'll see.

 

[Belegon]

If it brings even one kid to the originals that wouldn't have checked it out otherwise I'm for this in particular...

as far as general change? English as a language is still on the young side. Change is a part of that...

 

[Guest]

If it brings even one kid to the originals that wouldn't have checked it out otherwise I'm for this in particular...

as far as general change? English as a language is still on the young side. Change is a part of that...

I have to agree with you Bel. Obviously, I am not one to be any where near proper with my writing, however 'well read' I consider myself to be...if one child's interest in classics is sparked by sms speak, then how can any of us oppose it?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I memorized the quadratic equation to get through chemistry. I found I didn't need to memorize the specific formulae for anything I needed, I could derive it from the equation at need. I just had to remember what the concepteps told me was needed. I didn't consider it cheating, just using my memory to best advantage.

I didn't mean that there's anything wrong with mnemonics. I use them all the time, especially in science and math where you have a lot of idiosyncratic facts to remember. In fact, I'm currently searching for a mnemonic for remembering the geologic epochs: Cambrian, Sillurian, Ordovician... All that stuff.

It's just that, if you have to resort to mnemonics to remember the ending of Jane Eyre, or if you have to read Hamlet in Classic Comics or Cliff's Notes format to understand it, then you proabbly shouldn't be studying English Lit, because you're working around the subject, not through it. You're avoiding the very thing you're supposed to be studying, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

 

[eric shawn listo]

Its all geek to me.

I just figured out what lol means.

 

[R. Richard]

I think you people are overlooking some very possible applications here.

How about a radio spot for a reducing salon that starts out with "Tubby or not tubby . . .?"

 

[lucky-E-leven]

I think, for the purpose intended, it's a good idea. I wasn't an english major and still had to take a healthy amount of Lit coursework. It'd be really nice if the majority of students truly were interested in learning and retaining the bulk of information from each class, but let's be honest with ourselves. Universities structure curriculum. Students are required to wade through it, excelling where they will, in order to wind up with a diploma. I had a really rough time with one Lit class in particular and the only way I got through it was to condense the work (mostly shorts) into one main theme to identify it wholly. I still had to read the entire thing to give the short version meaning, so I don't think the txt versions replace the need to read the work. There's no way in hell I could have performed at all based on that alone. The foundation of the story itself is still necessary to use such recall tools, so I don't see the problem. It's interesting, though, to see what they deem as a recall point. Jane Eyre is a favorite of mine, and I don't think that particular phrase is one I would've chosen at all. *shrug*

~lucky

 

[CharleyH]

I have no particular comment on this news but I cannot help but wonder how English itself (or other languages) might change or transform simply through text messaging (nevermind the impact of cyberspace at large), especially given its use by children and young adults. I'm well read on the history of English and on the nature of Language, but this particular phenomenon causes me to recall how English was created; might text message spellings be the Angles, Saxons and Jutes of our time?

Perdita

Project Reduces Classics in Text Messages - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Nov. 17, 2005

LONDON (AP) -- ''Romeo, Romeo -- wher4 Rt thou Romeo?'' It could be the future of Shakespeare.

Kinda like the Coles notes of the modern world, no? Was the passion for literature changed by Coles, will it be by IPod?

Great post, P, fascinating questions..

 

[sweetnpetite]

As for mnemonics, anyone who needs to cheat to remember the plot of a story or book shouldn't be studying English inthe first place.

I don't quite agree. Some poeple have brilliant minds, but terrible memories. Some poeple have learning problems or disabilities. It's only right for them to use whatever tricks they can to help them overcome whatever personal obstacles they may have.

I don't really think it's 'cheating' to use mnomonics. It's just a method. NO more cheating than any other method. Would you say the only correct way to memorieze something is to spend hours on repetion? Would you say that it was cheating to use leverage when lifting heavy objects? People with learning disabilites (and many who don't) use 'tricks' all the time. I don't see anything wrong with that, or that it means you shouldn't be studying the subject.

Besides, most HS students don't get to chose whether or not to study english anyway

 

[Liar]

Text messaging shorthand (for the lack of a better term) is a passing fad. It originated due to inferior interfaces for typing (9 key cell phones the most common example of that) as well as medias where compact text were a nessecity. Those are technological problems, to which there are solutions, and never devices and future generation messaging medias will not have the limitations of the current ones. It's the LaserDisc of writing, a missing link in the evolution of communication, and it will be replced by something new, making txt mssg so last month for the same early adaptors that have embraced this.

 

[Goldie Munro]

Language, for me, is fluid - ever changing. If I want to pass an examine or just read something for information I really don't care how it is written as long as I can understand it.

When it comes to reading - I mean really reading - then I want artistry.