Our Abbreviated Generation

I was pleasantly tickled recently when on opening my face book home page ,the first thing that hit me was a friends status update, where she took a swipe at the use of the letters IJN in conveying words of blessings, exhortations ,wishes etc., as opposed to the used of the full phrase, In Jesus’ Name. Same goes for LLNP (Long Life and Prosperity) We have to agree that at some point in our written communication and correspondences, we have been guilty of this practice; yours truly inclusive. No doubt, the SMS language can make messaging easier. The language is comprised of shortened phrases, acronyms and abbreviations that emerged from text messaging but has since bled into the everyday vernacular of many modern societies. SMS language is useful in text messaging, as it shortens messages' character count, therefore saving time and expense. This however does not apply to me because I have gotten so used to writing my SMSs in full thereby wasting time and paying more. I come from a background where my father, a class-act in both spoken and written English, made us believe that the much celebrated Pidgin English is nothing but gutter language. So bad that even in church, he does not join in singing songs done in Pidgin English. So with that mindset, in the course of my development, I have found it difficult to accept what I consider non-standard alterations to the language, both written and spoken. We are daily witnessing the creation of more of this “short codes”. It wasn’t until the recent past, that I got to know what LWKMD actually meant. For me I just left it at my good old LOL, LORL, LMAO, and one or two other ones. I get irritated by some though; like the blackberry popularized, KK, YELZ, and SOWIE etc. No matter how I feel about these abbreviations, the truth is that they have come to stay. However, the use of this slang-based language is not without its disadvantages:

1.Speaking or writing with SMS words can confuse those who are not familiar with the language. Many people within older generations, who do not use text messaging very often, may not understand a message if it contains SMS language, particularly acronyms. For example, someone who does not understand SMS language may receive a message with the acronym "ROTFL" which means "Rolling on the floor laughing" and wouldn't know that the message sender thought the subject matter was funny.

2.Using the SMS language outside of text messaging, in speech and emails, can give the recipient a negative impression of the messenger. When a word from the SMS language is used in an inappropriate situation, such as a business email, it can seem unprofessional or simply be misinterpreted as a spelling error. For example, the SMS word "ppl" stands for "people" and could easily be confused as a spelling mistake by those who are not knowledgeable of SMS abbreviations. Furthermore, using SMS words instead of their English-language counterparts can convey to the recipients that the messenger is lazy and could not be bothered to complete the longer version of the word.

3.The spread of the SMS language has been criticized for deteriorating the English language and its rich history. Though languages continually evolve, the SMS language can be seen as not respecting the long-standing properties of the English language that has made it so strong. Furthermore, words within the SMS language that are very similar to their English-language counterparts can be confused by young users as the actual English spelling and can therefore increase the prevalence of spelling mistakes.








I fear for the generation after us, who will step up the game and take it to an entirely different dimension. Children these days get exposed to information Technology and the internet quite early in life and will readily accept sms language as a communication standard, at that formative stage of their lives. The difficulty is how to create a balance between what is right and what is for ‘fun communication’. This is the 21st century; yes, and at the risk of sounding primitive, I believe something should be done and fast too, to make a clear distinction between Standard English for writing and the ‘fun language’. We need to do this to preserve the rich heritage of the English language that our teachers (I studied under some of the best) labored to teach us. If not, I foresee a scenario where it will move beyond the written, to being used in ‘formal’ verbal exchanges:


Pastor: GBUA IJN (God Bless Us All, In Jesus’ Name)

Congregation: MN (Amen)

Son: HDWU (Hey Daddy What’s Up?)

Dad: IFS, HWYD (I’m Fine Son, How Was Your Day?)

You can stretch your imagination to the limits by creating more.

HAND, oops, I just did it; I meant to say Have a Nice Day!