Culture

Culture

by Mike Masnick




Book Written In Txt

from the that'll-upset-teachers dept

Last year there were a few stories about teachers freaking out when their students were handing in papers written in "txt" shorthand. I imagine those same teachers won't be all that pleased to find out that someone has now come out with an entire book written in texting slang. The book (written in French SMS slang) is aimed at kids to try to get them to stop smoking - but I wonder if it will be used to get them to show their teachers a "legitimate" use of txt slang. Of course, my guess is that any book written by an adult, trying to use the shorthand that kids use and trying to get them not to smoke is only going to get mocked. However, not being a kid, not knowing French and not knowing "txt" speak, I'm not really in a position to judge the quality of the book. Still, if we thought English teachers were sticklers for students not using texting shorthand, I can't imagine how angry the French language keepers are going to be. The French, of course, are notorious for trying to micromanage their language to keep impurities out. These are the same folks who had to come up with their own French words for internet related terms, because they couldn't have their language polluted by English.

2 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

Reader Comments

(Flattened / Threaded)

    Jan 28th, 2004 @ 6:39pm
  • Translate the classics into Txt!!!

    by higgins

    The Aoler translator will let you write papers in English and THEN tranlate into txt. Try it with Shakespare: 2 B OR NOT 2 B! http://ssshotaru.homestead.com/files/aolertranslator.html

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Jan 29th, 2004 @ 6:41am
  • No Subject Given

    by Ed Halley

    When someone who can't write in their classic native language does it, I expect them to buckle down and learn the curriculum.

    When someone who clearly CAN write in their classic native language, but chooses not to do so, I just see it as another example of wordplay.

    For example, the book Gadsby is 50,000 words long, without ever using the letter 'e' (our most commonly occurring letter). How far can you write, without 'the' and 'he' and 'she'?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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