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TXTing language barrier :’(

Style of writing can make one look unprofessional

March 22, 2010
by Michael Lucas | Staff Writer

Is your form of speech digressing as well? Illustration by Adrian Liwang

A senseless war is being waged across America.

My friends, we can no longer stand by while our language suffers under attack from slang and text-message lingo.  The vowel population is nearly extinct and three separate words have been forced into one.  “Laugh out loud” will never be able to fully recover from “LOL”.

Setting the emotional damage aside, text message lingo actually hurts your academic writing skills, your ability to get a job and your professional credibility once you get that job.

Shortcuts might be acceptable when you are talking to friends and even beneficial when you are taking notes, but it has no place in college-level writing.

I was revising a classmate’s essay last semester, and I noticed that she consistently used “wot” in place of the word “what.”  I mentioned it to her, and she said that “wot” is perfectly acceptable and that the English language is like fashion:  It changes with the decades.

City College English professor, Dr. Travis Silcox, finds the trend frightening. She says that beyond grammatical errors, text messaging and tweeting also shorten students’ attention spans when they are faced with longer pieces of literature.

According to monster.com, one of the most important qualities employers look for when hiring is communication skill. If you use slang, shorthand or make grammatical mistakes on an application, the employer will most likely throw it in the trash before he or she gets a chance to see your value as an employee. If you do not have a comfortable grasp of the English language, in both writing and speaking, you will never gain professional credibility in the real world.

I am an administrative assistant—a fancy title for “secretary”—and one of the most important aspects of my job is to proofread every letter, email and report before it’s sent out. I once sent out a report that had just a few mistakes in it. When they were identified, I had to drive around to everyone that received it and personally replace the old pages with the corrections.

If you ever want to be successful in the professional world, you must play by the rules.

So I ask you once again to join me in the battle to save our language. If not for glory and honor, fight for your own sake. Sport those vowels like it’s everybody’s business, and I promise that your success will know no limits.