(09-11-2017, 06:27 AM)Matsilainen Wrote: Marko, very keen observations, and I especially enjoyed the VHS versus Betamax comparison. English is VHS all the way, and just like VHS was made obsolete by DVDs, social media and the web at large are changing the language. (The difference is that DVDs are arguably a better product than VHS is. Post-social media English pales in comparison to what existed before.)
Of course, this is AFAIK, and YMMV. (LoL.)
Languages evolve over time even in those countries whose national identities are strongly associated with their language and where they have strict language "police". I'm not sure a lot of the text talk acronyms and abbreviations are going to find their way into the english language in the long term. Things like lol (I hate that one -its redundant since if you aren't laughing out loud you aren't laughing are you?) were driven by the limitations of technology. Early texting devices were just adapted cell phones with lcd displays and they only had the numeric keyboard. Each key represented a number and 3 letters so they had to click through the selections to get the letter they wanted. It was a pain in the ass so naturally abbreviations and abysmal spelling resulted. Now smartphones have full keypads to type whatever you want but old habits die hard. People like me who never used these old devices and never developed those habits are easily identifiable. Our text messages are in complete sentences with correct spelling, grammar and punctuation! How lame is that? I didn't get a smartphone until very late in the game and then really only to communicate with the kids.