Acronym Dictionary - "My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4"


Does anyone remember a Reuters article last March titled "British Girl Baffles Teacher with SMS Essay " where a teacher couldn't read a 13 year-old's essay because it was written in 'SMS' speak? [click Read More below to see excerpts]

Well I've noticed that, where I teach, a class or two on 'electronic communication' is almost always needed for adults in intermediate or above. ( Adults at this level are the ones most likely to be open to IM / SMS English experiences. )

But I'm finding more and more of my young learners ( teens ) know more of them than I do.

I'm sorry, I'm not much of a chat room person, but I do know my way around some, and acronyms are equally useful / used in IM, but it's just where I've hung out, there's never been a need for A/S/L... I guess. (Last year we had a Teacher vs. Students contest, and they won with that one. grrr.)

Acronym Dictionary
http://www.aim.com/acronyms.adp?aolp=
Get your message across quickly and save yourself some keystrokes, too. Refer to this handy chart for the most commonly used acronyms among AIM users and before long, you'll be communicating faster than ever with friends, family and colleagues.

British Girl Baffles Teacher with SMS Essay
Sun Mar 2, 9:14 PM ET Add Technology - Reuters Internet Report to My Yahoo!

LONDON (Reuters) - An English essay written by a British teenager in text messaging short-hand has reignited concern among teachers that literacy standards are under threat.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Monday that the 13-year-old's teacher could not decipher what the youngster had written.

"I could not believe what I was seeing. The page was riddled with hieroglyphics, many of which I simply could not translate," the teacher told the newspaper.

The teenager's essay which caused the problem began:

"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."

In translation:

"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."

Judith Gillespie, of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, told the newspaper a decline in grammar and written English was partly linked to the text messaging craze.

"Pupils think orally and write phonetically," she said.

Posted: Fri - November 7, 2003 at 09:58 AM            

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