Where has the English Language Disappeared?

[Apotheosis]

What has the Internet done to the English Language? Like many purists, I am also a great admirer of Queen\'s English. Even though I do use the email feature heavily, I still have not been able to come to terms with:
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a) No punctuation
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b) No capitals
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c) Abbreviations and use of numbers in place of whole words, e.g. 4, luv, 2, etc.
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d) Manufactured spellings
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Am I the only one, or do I have company? Why is it that written English has come to this? When you write, there is only so much you can let a person know about you. The kind of language you use lets the reader form an opinion of you. Why not give them more than the short form of words or other grammatical irregularities to work with? We are Indians. We have a better command over the English language than the Britons. Forget the Americans. They have never spoken English once in the last two hundred years.

[Srinu]

forget email. try writing in plain (queens) english when u send an sms on ur cell. its a pain, i can tell u that. the shorter the msg the better (as long as the person on the other end understands it). & sorry 4 screwing up ur \"queens\" english here again..

[Apotheosis]

Exactly my point! Why do you need to send SMS messages? Use a phone like a phone. Why make it into something it is not? I am sorry if I sound old fashioned, but nothing else can compensate for the charm that good English has.

[Srinu]

I would love to do that, especially ISD calls. Only my meagre salary doesn\'t provide me that luxury. And more so, if you want to sneak a message out to someone from a boring meeting (with your big boss presiding over) .

[JustaLittleUnwell]

Apotheosis, I think you are biting more than you can chew here. I am OK with your love for Queen\'s English, and you are welcome to do all the raving about it and all the ranting about its detractors. But before embarking on SMS-bashing, you should\'ve watched out for die-hard SMS maniacs around you who aren\'t going to take your comments lightly. So save your skin, pal .
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Seriously, SMS is a great thing to happen to the good ol\' phone. It is easy to convey info like phone numbers, email addresses etc. over SMS than over voice. If you have a loved one to whom you can send picture messages (roses, heart, the works ) you wouldn\'t complain about SMS. Moreover, analysts predict m-commerce to be the next big thing after e-commerce (assuming it is big), and SMS is at the center of many an m-commerce solution.

[Nidhi]

As long as it is accepted by everyone, and we find it time saving, it really doesn\'t matter whether we are using abbreviated English or Queen\'s english.
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I like Queen\'s English, but I really do not have the patience or time to use it nor does the person on the receiving end do.

[Mayavi Morpheus]

Just some questions:
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1. Why should we take pride in speaking good Engilish? And why should we love Queen\'s English?
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2. Why shouldn\'t a phone be used for games and SMS?
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3. Language is for comuunicating. Grammar doesn\'t matter as long as we are able to get our point through. What does the Queen think of it?
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Did you understand what I wrote?
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According to a research at Cambrigde University, it doesn\'t matter in what order the letters in a word are. The only prominent tihng is that the first and last letters be at their right place. The rest can be a total mess and you can still read it without problem. This is because the human mind does not read every letter by itself, but the word as a whole. Amazing huh?

[Apotheosis]

Answers:
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1) Language is what separates human beings from animals. It is the mark of a civilisation. Ours has been a great civilisation where we have many languages, many with their own script. Our culture is all encompassing. We have, over the period of the last few centuries, amalgamated many cultures. Why should the English language be any different? What sets an educated man apart from an uneducated one is the kind of language they use. Not just in the case of English. This holds true for other languages, too. But, English is a very widely used and abused language in this country. I just feel it is a trifle irritating to read words in short forms, especially on the computer.
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2) The thumb culture, as SMS has come to be known as, is actually a health hazard. There have been instances where people have had their hands rendered useless for days due to excess SMS messaging. Besides, that personal touch can never come in an SMS message. It can never replace the joys of receiving letters. Also, it has already added to the rapid depletion of the art of letter writing. In any case, I don\'t really have a problem with abbreviated stuff in SMS messages. They serve a different purpose which is mostly to convey information fast. That is fine. But, the question is, why do we need to convey it so fast? I do not think the world would collapse if we took a few minutes more.
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3) Language is for communication. But, language plays a very important part in what is conveyed. For instance, consider this statement:
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Woman without her man is incomplete.
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Punctuate it in two different ways:
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a) Woman! Without her, man is incomplete.
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b) Woman, without her man, is incomplete.
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They convey two very different meanings. Get the point?

[Srinu]

Health hazards? So is pepsi cola. So is the keyboard. And not to mention, television and computers. But buddy, live and let live yaar. Anyways, you can\'t blame me for not making an effort. This probably is the best punctuation you can get out of me ). Yeah, I know, a lost case.