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HIGH-SPEED VOCABULARY
WHAT IS HIGH-SPEED VOCABULARY?
High- speed vocabulary is what people (especially
teenagers and young adults) use when they do text-messaging
via
their mobile phones. It's a new way of expressing oneself consisting
in sending short written messages by phone. Spelling out a message on
a handset with a thumb's edge is not very easy and it
takes time. So users have developed their own high-speed vocabulary ,
a mix of all the available icons, snappy acronyms and phonetic
shorthand.
Lots of abbreviations are used like 2DAy (meaning today), GR8 (great),
B4 (before), and so on.
WHY IS IT SO FASHIONABLE?
The
text-messaging revolution took off thanks to SMS (Short Message
Service), a service which the telecom industry started in 1991. Since
then, many people have prefered to use their phone to write
rather than chat. There are several reasons to this.The main
reason is that sending short messages by phone is far less expensive
than using one's phone for a traditional chat call. It is also
quicker than e-mail. It's quick, it's cheap and it's
international. It has
extra privacy, too . Anyone who tried talking on a mobile phone in a
crowded bar can easily understand the superiority of text-messaging
over chat-calling : background noise is no problem. Besides,
SMS is a handy means of surmounting big emotional challenges.
A survey found that 13per cent users are thought to use text messages
to break off relationships.
HOW TO LEARN THE LANGUAGE ?
"Everyone can invent it; it's just a visal transcription of the
spoken word," says Gabrielle Mander, who compiled "Wan2Tlk?
Ltl of Txt Msgs". To
suit the needs of the uninitiated, English-to text dictionaries,
glossaries and guides have been made available everywhere, but the
language of the text generation
is evolving quicker than
publishers can keep up. High speed vocabulary has a hint of the
subsersive to it for you don't have to
bother what the academy says or
thinks.
QUIZ:
e (English)FOLLOW-UP:
Can you translate the following High Speed Vocabulary? (click for
answers below)
| Text messages in English |
|
Text messages in French |
|
| CUL8R | RV | ||
| 4U | TOK? | ||
| B4 | A+ | ||
| XLNT | NRV | ||
| GUDLUK | jeT'M | ||
| THX | BZoo | ||
| 2DAY | G1pb | ||
| 2MORO | bcp | ||
| W8 | RSTP | ||
| WRU | tjs | ||
| Up2U | Kdo | ||
| ASAP | ID | ||
| L-O | KC | ||
| I-C | ama | ||
| Bcoz | Wétu | ||
| BHL8 | K7 | ||
| 911 | R29 | ||
| QL | Xact | ||
| LOL | GHT | ||
| WanTlk | DpaC | ||
| NAGI. | L | ||
| T2S | Kfé | ||
| etc. | etc. |
translationsPRACTICE
Ask your English teacher his/her phone number and send him/her short messages in English, using SMS.
NB Of course, you can use high-speed vocabulary with e-mail, too.
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