Animation Source Forums

Netspeak... Why - oh why, dear Lord?! Why did you have to invent it?!

Before I get flamed, do be aware that my opinion is based wholeheartedly on facts and personal experience.

Using Wikipedia's definition: "Internet slang, Internet language, Netspeak, Chatspeak, Leetspeak, Chat Room Shorthand, Computer Language, 1337 (or leet), Tech-Talk (as used by some chatroom users) or Nu English is slang that Internet users have coined and popularized. Such terms typically originated with the purpose of saving keystrokes, and many people use the same abbreviations in text messages and instant messaging. Often, letters are replaced with numbers. For example, "Monkey" could be written as "m0nk3y". This form of internet slang is known as leet. Acronyms, keyboard symbols, and shortened words are often methods of abbreviation in Internet slang. Common examples of this are "LOL" (laughing out loud) "OMG" (oh my god) and "WTF" (What the ****?)."

All of this translates into one thing: "Laziness". Why do we have to be so lazy about abbreviations for everything? Some abbreviations ("lol" and "wtf", "omg", "rofl") are appreciated and understandable - after all, they are fun abbreviations, but why do we really have to accept "hai 2 u" or "l2p", "cu", etc.?

It is murder of the English language and completely unacceptable! It is not very hard to type properly, even on the internet. Quite frankly, I believe that if you can do it during English classes at school, you can do it everywhere.

I just happen to feel really ashamed to be part of an internet community, really. Why on Earth must you leetspeakers use numbers to replace letters (even if their syllables match when spoken out loud)? Why must you use "u" instead of "you" or "c" instead of "see"?
I don't get it. Why must lazy people be lazy?


In short - netspeak is a bad thing. I find netspeak to be disruptive to the English language and there is no real defense for it. Any self-respecting internet community should enforce rules that would make members put some effort into typing (if it is a bit harder to type properly than to use netspeak - quite frankly, I find netspeak harder to use than proper typing). This has been pulled off with great success at BaltoSource ([link not here due to - we're already here!]) and most of the netspeak words and SMS speaking (shortening words for easier typing - get a grip, people! It's a computer, not a cell phone! Here we speak a language humans can understand!) has been eliminated. Naturally, there are exceptions as stated in a dedicated topic in the Forum Introduction section.

Regardless, my point still stands. Netspeak is silly - it is not understandable (if it is, hard to understand) and it's just being plain lazy. It makes you seem more unintelligent than you really are and people will most likely not take you seriously ("Lol, i think ur report sux" is not acceptable if you were to file real-life reports to, per se, a commercial company) and worst of all: you make yourself look silly!

It came from the Internet and, some say, is going to destroy modern civilization as we know it. No, it’s not spam. It’s Netspeak. Also known in some circles as “L33t speak”. Of course, not all people think that Netspeak or L33t is going to destroy the world, although many think that it is rotting the brain of the millions of young (and not so young) people who are “speaking” it. But no longer a passing fad, some experts say that L33t (or “l33tspeak”) netspeak is here to stay.

Like so many other things accused of corrupting the mind, you’ll know it when you see it. And you’ve probably already seen Netspeak - in an email, coming across your cellphone, or in an IM. In fact, “IM” itself is a good example, being Netspeak for “instant message”, or “Internet message”. Often these “words” mutate from one type of word to another, as well - IM is now not only a noun, but a verb - I often IM my husband, for example (but never in public).

Borne of the desire for brevity (or perhaps laziness), Netspeak became a way to send quick messages while not having to type too much - hey, typing at the speed of speech isn’t always easy. Thus evolved such “words” as “CU” for “see you”, “BRB” for “be right back”, “TTYL” for “talk to you later”, “LOL” for “laughing out loud”, “ROFL” for “rolling on floor laughing”, “ROFLMAO”..well..you get the idea.

The term “L33t” itself is said to have originated specifically in the online gaming forums, where gamers fancied themselves “elite” for being able to understand their new language which replaced vowels with numbers. Hence “l33t”, as in el33t - elite.

Of course, this “language” wasn’t new at all. People with numeric pagers (that’s “beepers” for you young’uns) had been doing number-spelling for years. Even before that, I remember the joke which lead to your calculator spelling “SHELL OIL” (that’s the number 710 77345, turned upside down).

Whatever you call it, Netspeak, L33t speak, or just plain baffling, experts are now legitimizing it and saying that it’s not so bad. Says David Crystal, a language historian at the University of Wales, “Rather than condemning it, we should be exulting in the fact that the Internet is allowing us to once more explore the power of the written language in a creative way”, explaining that the Internet “is fostering new kinds of creativity through language. It’s the beginning of a new stage in the evolution of the written language and a new motivation for child and adult literacy.”

Or, perhaps, the beginning of the end of modern civilization as we know it.

Do you know what else ticks me?
NEARLY ALL THESE MEMBERS THAT CAN'T SPELL ARE BRITISH.
Not meant to be offense against Brits, cause I live in Britian and am English too XD
But seriously
WHY?!
Americans and people from other countries seem to grasp it rather quickly, but the British don't.
Learn_to_Spell.
not meant to be offensve to British people, I am British and all it does is make me feel ashamed to be.
Sorry if I hurt you.

Dear Americans and Co,
We British people can spell, although some British just can't. I am saying this on behalf of myself and my British friends that all they do is make us feel ashamed.
those types of Brits don't seem to realise their mistakes and when they are told to spell or are corrected, they don't like it because it means they are wrong.
I am sorry for any inconvenience.
The [[British]] Tani

I'm British... I spell (Nor perfectly, however you shouldn't expect that from a 12 year old). Some friends talk normally, others talk like ******* - However there is no need to go "BRITISH PEOPLE CANT SPEAK ENGLISH". Well actually, it's just lazyness - But still, i see meany people from all over the world that are lazy, so don;t blaim it on the brits all the time.

But still, i see meany people from all over the world that are lazy, so don;t blaim it on the brits all the time.

Being on the internet is no excuse whatsoever to settle for bad spelling and grammar. In fact, it is the internet and the trend of SMS and chat speak which has contributed to that bad spelling and grammar, either because it's somehow seen as "cool" or trendy to do so, or because people are just lazy. And that's simply not acceptable.

The prevalence of the internet, and "connected" devices, has produced (in terms of spelling and grammatical skills) the laziest generation in history...and one of the most literate-challenged ones as well. In all history.

People don't have a right to "scream at" those who misspell or commit grammatical errors, it's true. However, I don't see that happening. And as a new member, I wonder how much direct experience you could possibly have with this. It's not allowed on this site to "scream at" members. So I doubt very much that that's happening. And when it does, it is quickly corrected...even by non-mods.

Accept bad spelling and grammar, though? Uh, no. Not at all...the least of all from people who speak English as their primary language. Who use SMS and chat speak because "it's the internet". Those people need to start paying attention in class and using their language correctly.

This whole "dislike/hate the person because they have bad grammer" is kind of... well, in my opinion; stupid.
Just because someone has a lot of typos or cant exactly put everything in a oh so perfect way doesnt mean you have to immediately bash them.

Give us a break. It's the Internet for crying out loud.