Webspeak.

---Goodmorning gents. Im just sitting here drinking down the cup of joe and reading upi on the news I may have missed overnight. I found an interesting article on this whole webspeak thing...it goes to s how you what an influence the internet has on kids and it kinda scares me a little. I mean, what will it be like by time our kids are grown up enough to understand it all? Have any input boys? Will you highly limit the amount of time that your children get to spend on the computer? My ex and I have already agreed that Ava will not have a computer in her room when she gets older for about a million reasons.

I am also thinking about Pete this morning and what he is feeling. Im with you in thought my dear friend.


Here is part of the article on "webspeak."


By ANN PLESHETTE MURPHY and JENNIFER ALLEN, from ABCnews.com

Jan. 25, 2007 — If, like most teens today, your child spends hours sending text messages from his phone and instant messages from his computer, you probably have overheard phrases like "LOL" or "BRB," without understanding what they meant.

Web lingo is a quick, fun way for kids to communicate using cell phones and computers, and, with 14 million teens texting regularly, it's the new social currency. For example, almost any teen or tween knows that "BRB" means "be right back" and that "TTYL" is "talk to you later."

But now, the use of slang and abbreviations is not limited just to e-mails, text messages or instant messages. It is showing up in kids' schoolwork, in their SAT essays and in college admission applications.

Sara Goodman, who teaches high school English and journalism at Clarksburg High in Clarksburg, Md., said she worries that this new language will compromise students' ability to write and to communicate.

"Most of these kids started using IM when they were between the ages of 8 and 10," Goodman said. "So they learned it when they were learning the other grammar rules."

Learning Webspeak at the same time, then, means kids focus on the grammatical form that they use more often, which is IM and text-message abbreviations, Goodman said.

"I have definitely seen an increase in this type of shorthand. They're using it pretty much everywhere. It's just seeped into their daily language."

Webspeak is so ingrained in most students' communication skills that they inadvertently use the language all the time, even where it might be inappropriate.