The “SMS” language - A new revolution?

“Short Messaging System” or better known as SMS in its abbreviated format, is the current trend of how people are interacting to each other, besides emails and phones. Don’t worry guys, I won’t be bragging about “What is SMS” or “Who invented it” but instead, I would love to talk about its very own unique language.

I believe there is no specific name for this “SMS language” yet, hence throughout this post I shall be mentioning it as “SMS language”. For those who doesn’t know anything about it, well, it is the very same language in which “abbreviations talk louder than words” and the very same language which contributes to the deterioration of some of our school-going kids in doing well in their essays! Mind you kids, just because of a coz instead of because, it could make your whole sentence to be completely amiss!

Going back to our main topic, I won’t be going around and bashing people for using this SMS language as I would be using it myself. Now, let me stress this part. USING IT FOR THE PURPOSE OF SMSING! I stressed the previous sentence because lately, I have been bombarded with that language even when I’m using MSN Messenger and receiving messages from Friendster.

Gone were the days when “How are you” would eventually be shorten to “hw r u”. Now, it became even worse. “hru”. We could have sticked to that “hw r u” but I seriously have no idea why the hell it became shorter. Maybe that change is proving that human beings are becoming lazy and lazy as time goes by and hence the changes in the “SMS language”. Or maybe some might think that it would sound ‘cooler’ if they tend to use shortforms. You know, some idiots would just think like that!

In MSN Messenger, whenever I’m chatting with some of my e-peers, it is usual to receive messages which would take me some time to decode it into normal words and finally replying to that person. For instance, the “hru” as I mentioned above. I’m not the kind of person who loves to use shortforms nor am I well-versed in it, or should I say extreme-shortforms, so whenever I received some messages that I believe it was extremely-shorten for some reason, I won’t be saying anything else to that person besides “HUH?”. And, I won’t be expecting that person to think that my HUH is actually a shortform, in which if that person tends to decipher H, U and H separately into possible words-combination, I shall not be blamed! You see, how a simple conversation leads to confusion and lastly, ended with a ‘disconnection’ of both parties?

Now, let’s talk about Friendster, my favorite! In Friendster, some noobs even tend to use extreme-shortforms in such a way that you can’t understand what the other party is crapping about. For instance, this was a message that I happened to receive a few days back from a girl, whom I believe she is 15 years old but faked her age to be 18 in her profile (Ohh and not forgetting, she put a Namitha’s picture as her primary picture):

iiii..
cn i gt 2 noe mr abt u?
pls add me.
thnXxXxXxXx

Although the above message is not too ‘extreme’, nevertheless it is sickening and, well, childish at the same time! The “mr abt..” could be misinterpreted as “Mister about” whilst the usage of “thnXxXxXxXx” just for the sake of beautifying the original ‘THANKS’ word won’t make any difference to it girl, as it would still mean the same -> To thank. I’m not that stupid to misinterpret that message as I know what she is trying to tell but my other half would always be on the practical and neutral side. I can’t help it, sorry! You might wanna try a different method in styling your words to gain more attention, girl. Ohh and please don’t crap to me saying that IT SAVES YOUR FREAKING TIME BY TYPING LIKE THAT! My foot!

Hai.
Can I get to know more about you?
Please add me.
Thanks.

Ohh, how nice to read that! Now that gives me an impression that this girl is a well-educated girl and would certainly expect a neat reply from me, despite the fact that she is using a Namitha’s picture as her primary picture (*winks*). It is fine to talk however you want if both of you knew each other and happened to be friends but, using extreme-shortforms in the first approach itself would certainly turn down the impression on you, let alone if your abbreviations/shortforms doesn’t make any sense (FILT - which means “For instance like this”)! Please remember kids, it is the impression that counts, and not whether what you are doing is right, wrong, seeking attention, saving time and all those crap. IMPRESSION!

I have a friend who is well-versed in Malay, and most of the time, he would be talking in Malay to me and to my other TAMILAN friends as well. One day, we were planning to go for a futsal match when I happened to receive an SMS from him:

ko x gi ke?

WTF? Some bunch of Filipino words? Incomplete English words? Or abbreviated Malay words? The correct answer would be the latter one! His “ko x gi ke?” literally means “Engkau tak pergi ke?”, which made me to scratch my head for a few times before coming up with his hidden message. Although I did managed to come up with that message earlier, however, I have to make some double-checks to verify it incase of any misinterpretations which might lead to some misunderstandings later on. Enna kodumai ithu!

Just imagine how things would have gone if he uttered those words rapidly instead of texting it to me.

ko x gi ke > kotakgike > kotak-gike > K0TTE THANGGIKE!

Adik-adik India Malaysia yang sedang didiskriminasi sekalian, kalau mahu gunakan perkataan-perkataan shortform dalam bahasa English mahupun dalam Bahasa Melayu, gunakanlah dengan berhati-hati and janganlah keterlaluan yer. Itulah mesej saya.

*Anticipating eagerly for some hatred comments.
*Please note the difference between “shortforms” and “extreme-shortforms”. I’m against the latter one to be precise.
*Some might claim that it’s their wish and their style to type like that and what I gotta rant about. Well, since I’m a M1 blogger, I just rant on what I feel like ranting about. I can’t help it!