'SMS' language

Never think of 'SMS'ing your literature professor!

by Samangie Wettimuny

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No language is static. They do change constantly. 'SMS language' is the latest, thought one of the university students while a literature lecture is on. A serious lecture I mean- on Shakespeare's 'Othello' and what about the lecturer? Even more serious! But the first year university student is not so serious.

So she took down her notes thus: " A.C. Bradley cals Othl da mst rmntc f al S's hros an da gr8st pt of thm al....". At the end of the lecture the lecturer gave them an assignment- an equally serious one and of course with a deadline! The protagonist had no time to spare. Five assignments had to be submitted before the end of the month. With all this in mind she started keying her assignment: " f al da Shakespeare's drms, I thnk 'Othlo' s ga gr8st...."

It was not only Shakespeare's language that brought her back to the proper senses. As she struggled through Shakespeare's difficult lines, all of a sudden she started seeing the 'difficult' face of her literature professor as well! So though with reluctance she had to delete what she initially wrote and started keying her new sentence as follows:

"Of all the Shakespeare's drama's I think 'Othello' is the greatest. A. C. Bradley calls 'Othello' the 'most romantic' of all Shakespeare's heroes and the greatest poet of them all."

So girls and boys! Feel free to take down your notes in 'sms' language. But never think of 'sms'ing assignments - at least the literature assignment. Though Shakespeare could say 'thou' instead of 'you', don't be too smart to say 'u'! Even if Shakespeare had used 'u' in his writings, you are not free to use it now, as he lived in the Elizabethan era!

Whatever said and done, it is the language of the young. "Well, It is not a universal language"...." you know " says a young mother who sometimes takes hours to understand what her son wants to say. This was how he wrote to her in a recent message "im wtg 4 u, cl m bk". She could not understand a word in it. So she had to text her back saying "Write what you want to say in proper English!".

The same language is sometimes being used in sending e-mails and a grand ma once wondered what her grand son was trying to tell her when he sent her an email through her daughter's e-mail account. "Hw r u? U vent 2 c da prhra? pls cal m oftn. I l u.

So she had to get the assistance of one of her grand daughters who were 'proficient' in SMS language. Grand ma of course wrote her reply in 'modern' English and asked her grand daughter to email it in SMS language!. Is this the generation gap or the language incompetence? It is up to you to decide.

Of course the new language is highly advantageous to secret lovers. Even if their parents could open the 'inbox' they can never understand its content.

That is why Sujani's lover feels free to text her though he knows for sure that her mother goes throgh all the messages! "I m gng 2 da prty. r u? pls d. i hv srps 4 u.I d l u. c u" he once wrote. The response was superb. He could meet Sujani at the party and the latter got a fine surprize gift in return!

"It saves time" says young Nipun."In just one minute I can say a lot of things which would otherwise take more than half an hour!" In schools some teachers do never pause while giving notes. In universities they never give notes. But you are supposed to take down what they say during the lecture. So 'sms' language is undoubtedly a blessing.

Problems will arise only if you got a 'sudden impulse' to 'answer' your professors and teachers in that language!

Once an elderly person who was new to the 'sms' culture bought a mobile phone. He then gave his nephew a call on his mobile. The fellow was at a meeting. so he couldn't answer the call. But being polite he sent him a message. "uncl, i m bsy nw. ttul". The uncle was a bit angry and was thinking that his nephew was rude to him until he showed the text to his son.

"No father, He is not rude. He has just said" Uncle I am busy now, I'll talk to you later." Of course the nephew did call him in the evening only to find his uncle as pleasing as ever.

So high time you all started learning this - the most favourite language of the secret lovers. 'ilu' for 'i love you', 'i m wtg 4 u' for 'I am waiting for you, 'cl m bk' for 'call me back' 'b' for 'be', 'c' for 'see', 'r' for 'are' ,'u' for 'you', 'y' for 'why', 'n' for 'and', 'b4' for 'before'...etc. Is it so difficult? Don't worry. It is much easier than learning French. I assure you!