Also Known As: Why Spelling and Grammar Matter On The Internet.

OK, so we don’t really know that many people who type things like that (as much as it may seem like it), but there is a much more common phrase I see on almost any forum or place of public discussion. Generally it’s when someone fails to write in the English language to the point that you actually have to slow down your reading because your brain is busy making heads or tails of the message instead of just browsing through it.

“lol dis not english test speling dosnt matter”

This is primarily an attitude that has cropped up with “the texting generation,” for which I feel embarrassed to be on the border of. Might I offer the following thoughts about texting (fair warning, it’s from the Boondocks, so if you are easily offended by language… Well, what are you doing reading one of my posts, anyway?):

Really, though – I don’t know about other people, but most of the folks I know who text regularly don’t have anything important to say in almost any of the messages. Worse yet, since texting tends to involve being in a hurry to type out that really pointless message, often people will be so ridiculously lazy as to replace three-letter words with one letter. The argument, of course, is that, “it dosnt matter if u spel gud bcuz its only importent dat da mesage is understud.” It’s not just texting, either – Facebook with its farking status updates and dumber still, Twitter, which is the online version of texting without a designated recipient, are also fairly responsible for this rampant belief.

Before I really get going, by the way, let me just state that I’m also including the phrase “too long; didn’t read” in with the message of this article.

A lesson about communication, however. There’s a short article here about nonverbal communication, basically touching on the points that body language, tone of voice, and voice quality all play a much more significant part in communication than the actual words do.

If you’ve ever seen the show Lie To Me, the main character Cal is based on this guy, Dr. Paul Ekman, who’s a psychologist in the field of facial expressions and how they relate to emotion. If you have some time, it’s an interesting field of study, but for the purposes of this article, just another example of how little the words you use actually communicate.

(Somehow a text saying, “I have a lot of work to do” doesn’t quite communicate the same thing)

That first article suggests that a study from UCLA said that only 7 percent of communication is the actual words you use. I’m not much for statistics, but let’s just run with that for now.

So nobody has any real way to judge what they think of you on anything except your words, which are the least important part of communication when it comes to being understood. This means that word choice, semantics, implied tone – all that fun stuff is now being picked at very closely, because it’s all someone has to go on. That’s why emoticons are so helpful in informal conversation – the difference between, “You’re a dick,” and “You’re a dick. XD” is very pronounced.

So typing in all caps, people will interpret it as you yelling. Surrounding something in extra marks -like- -this- or *like* *this* means you’re trying to put a lot of emphasis on something. Tiping like dis bcuz u think ur saving time means you had a hard time with 4th grade and never put in the effort to improve.

You might not think it does, but I guarantee you, more people than not will interpret poor spelling and grammar as a lack of intelligence. In fact, the older you go in generations, the more people will believe that. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone over the age of about 25 who thinks “text speak” is a good idea.

Saate can perhaps provide you some extra examples of this (HINT HINT), but most employers in company jobs will let out a long sigh of frustration and inform you that hiring “young people” is a total nightmare nowadays. I know one who worked in an insurance company for many years, and it got to a point where she would give every prospective employee an e-mail that had some very basic spelling and grammar errors in it, then ask them to correct it. Usually, only one or two out of five to ten applicants would be capable. We’re talking stuff like “you’re” and “your.” The result? They wouldn’t even make it to the interview. Don’t waste her time.

For a handy little guide of some of the more common mistakes in spelling, check out this comic from The Oatmeal.

Text is the worst form of communication in the history of humanity. It’s incredibly easy to be misinterpreted and misunderstood. But since it’s a very real fact of life, the least one could do is learn to write their own language, the one they’ve been using for however many years. It’s much easier to get along with people when they don’t figure you for a moron.

Also, it lets you occasionally get away with things like the title of this post and people will laugh. Imagine if someone you knew nothing about said that in trade chat.