NC2

An old friend told me that she thought we lived in a "post-literate" society. I rolled my eyes, told her she was a snob, laughed, and didn't think of it much again. Until recently. Perhaps, we are post-literate, perhaps we are differently literate. Whatever is going on, it scares me. It does. I should be more open minded. . .

In the past few months I have noticed, in horror, the ubiquity of text message spelling in daily life, far, far away from cell phones, twitter, or wherever else these codes are used. Here are a few examples. Please add your own.

1) On a midterm exam: NC2 rather than "in situ" (in place or in position. Used to describe tumors, artifacts, etc. .

2) In expression of emotion: Loddzzz. Not lots, loads.

3) In a professional email: "When will u get back to me?"


Linguistically, this is interesting. But, what is going on?