Mobile users who speak a different language

Text messaging has now got its own dictionary to help new users, writes Jonathan Lambeth

If u wan2 undRst& tXt m$ges thN IMO u nEd a SMS DXNRE or no1 will think ur c%l. nuf Z.

If you didn’t understand the introduction, help is at hand. Genie, the mobile internet arm of mobile operator BT Cellnet, has put together the SMS DXNRE (that’s a text messaging dictionary, in case you’re not in the loop) which contains more than 300 examples of the new shorthand.

Text messaging, or SMS (short message service), is a new mobile phone language which has rapidly become one of Britain’s favourite pastimes. Walk along any high street, and you will find yourself surrounded by people giggling at their mobile phones as they receive the tenth text message of the day from their best friend.
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As the keypad of a mobile phone is difficult to navigate, text message groupies have developed a shorthand to make life a bit easier, as our table shows.

Marco Miranda, a 20-year-old barman chosen by Genie to edit the dictionary, said: “Text messaging has become the language of the ‘tech-rich, time-poor’ youth.”

Using the shorthand, it is possible to cut up to 50pc of the letters needed to write a sentence. Many of the terms originated in email and internet chat rooms, particularly the use of punctuation such as :*) which means drunk.

John Simpson, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), said: “Language is often tied in with social and cultural developments. It would be unusual for these terms to become part of the language, particularly for symbols to be incorporated into words. However, these terms are used in e-mail as well, so they might have more of a lifespan than we expect.”

He said a large number of commonly used words are already shortened versions of their original forms, such as OK, which has been around since 1839. However, the OED would need to see evidence of wider usage of the text message shorthand terms before they could be considered for inclusion.

If you are still confused by the introduction, here’s the translation: “If you want to understand text messages then in my opinion you need a short message service dictionary or no-one will think you are cool. Enough said.”

Source www.telegraph.co.uk