Girls & Punctuation, Grammar etc

WindSock

I have recently begun to notice lately how many women certainly moreso than men on facebook and on boards even, are quite slack at spelling words properly, will use text speak, not use capitals and over punctuate at the end of words!!!!!?????. Has anyone else noticed this trend from females? I wonder what it is that has them doing this. And yes, there are probably several mistakes in this OP, so don't bother trying to point out the irony as I am trying, whereas the ones I am talking of seem not to. It looks like laziness a lot of the time to me, really.

LisaLee

I assume you're talking about the following type of spelling?

- hw ws ur nit????
- gr8 tks, gt vry drnk n dncd n br lol!!!

Not really fair to chalk this up to women, think it's more of a modern rebellion against vowels. Any eejit can do this.

The_Morrigan

LisaLee wrote: »

I assume you're talking about the following type of spelling?

- hw ws ur nit????
- gr8 tks, gt vry drnk n dncd n br lol!!!

Not really fair to chalk this up to women, think it's more of a modern rebellion against vowels. Any eejit can do this.

you say any eejit can do it....but is it just me who can't understand it??

I absolutely hate it, and have a tendency to ignore emails, texts, messages on facebook etc that are written like that.

ztoical

Have noticed it but find its an age not gender thing. My mother and all her friends are text crazy but always spell words out fully and give out to people who dare send them anything in text speak. I find males are more in love with the '!' symbol but that might be down to alot of the males I know are comic book nerds.

LisaLee

The_Morrigan wrote: »

you say any eejit can do it....but is it just me who can't understand it??

I absolutely hate it, and have a tendency to ignore emails, texts, messages on facebook etc that are written like that.

I agree, its hard to understand. I have to read it aloud and try and work out what 'tks' or 'prby' means. Surely its not that much effort to type out the full word. As one of the other posters stated, it may be an age thing.

These are the words from the text-speak generation... God help us all..

The_Morrigan

LisaLee wrote: »

I agree, its hard to understand. I have to read it aloud and try and work out what 'tks' or 'prby' means. Surely its not that much effort to type out the full word. As one of the other posters stated, it may be an age thing.

These are the words from the text-speak generation... God help us all..

Don't think so in all cases - my mother sends me texts like that and I just have to ignore them...:rolleyes:

Feeona

I put it down to a lack of spatial awareness and weak fine motor skills. Also, women don't have time to be faffing about on the fone when dere's dinner to be maid and housework to be dun!

Latchy

Yes have definitely noticed it more with women posters on facebook than men with many unintentional , others am not so sure .

Lia_lia

Yeah I have also noticed it more with women.

And the funny thing is it always seems to be my friends who are actually quite smart! One of my best friends is studying English in college and types like that. Strange.

jokettle

I've found the same thing as Lia, and it bothers me more because I know these people are intelligent and well-read! There's no bloody excuse.

The only "text-speak" my boyfriend uses is "der" instead of "there" etc. I've been trying to beat it out of him, but to no avail. I suppose I should be grateful it's not worse

liah

I notice it more with women, too.. I've never been able to figure out why and to be quite honest it's rather embarrassing to look at.

I've never done it and never will.. my only major flaw is lack of capitalization in IM and FB, and in general I'm partial to colloquial shortenings (e.g. other'n that, could've/would've/should've, gunna, etc).. but even then, that's really not that bad. It's still clearly English.

Aren't women on average meant to be better at languages? So much for that!

Earthhorse

I've noticed it too and don't know why it is but perhaps it is that it is seen as slightly cutesy which may have more appeal among women than men.

Having said that...

jokettle wrote: »

I've found the same thing as Lia, and it bothers me more because I know these people are intelligent and well-read! There's no bloody excuse.

Both my sister and mom, but especially my sister, use it and she was regularly getting firsts on her college English essays so perhaps it's just laziness when it comes to texting.

But then, another really smart girl I know uses it on Facebook too. It's annoying anyway, that's all I know for sure.

Scuid Mhór

not 'txt-spk' but girls enjoy making what they write ~ pretty ~ so they'll abuse grammar/spelling/punctuation to look goooooooood.

liah

Scuid Mhór wrote: »

not 'txt-spk' but girls enjoy making what they write ~ pretty ~ so they'll abuse grammar/spelling/punctuation to look goooooooood.

It never does.

Giselle

'i' instead of 'I' is 10.0 on the Richter scale of annoyance.

'im' instead of 'I'm' is 1000000000000.0.:)

stupidusername

Feeona wrote: »

I put it down to a lack of spatial awareness and weak fine motor skills.

If it was down to spacial awareness problems, then texts wouldn't even make as much sense as the example above does. And the same can be said for fine motor skills. In fact it'd be fairly difficult to write a text in the first place. So it's hardly these factors.

I think text speak began as a trend, and has continued. And so it would make sense that more girls than guys would take it up. It's like a fashionable thing to do. I almost always write full english in texts, and find it very hard to read texts written in text speak. I don't know how any one could skim over a text speak sentence and know what it says, the same way I could do with a full english sentence.

Piste

I think as touch screen phones with full qwerty keyboards become more available people will probably use textspeak less when texting and it will hopefully filter through to the internet.

SugarHigh

stupidusername wrote: »

If it was down to spacial awareness problems, then texts wouldn't even make as much sense as the example above does. And the same can be said for fine motor skills. In fact it'd be fairly difficult to write a text in the first place. So it's hardly these factors.

I think text speak began as a trend, and has continued. And so it would make sense that more girls than guys would take it up. It's like a fashionable thing to do. I almost always write full english in texts, and find it very hard to read texts written in text speak. I don't know how any one could skim over a text speak sentence and know what it says, the same way I could do with a full english sentence.

I agree it seems to be a fashion thing. It's always been fashionable for women to appear stupid. First guess as to why is probably to not intimidate men.

Silverfish

I'm really not sure this is something you can accurately ascribe to one gender.

I have some of my younger second cousins on Facebook, and I'll be damned if I can figure out what any of them are talking about to each other.

When my dad texts me, I usually have to take a minute to translate wat d hell he is tlking abt.

Quazzie

Silverfish wrote: »

I'm really not sure this is something you can accurately ascribe to one gender.

I have some of my younger second cousins on Facebook, and I'll be damned if I can figure out what any of them are talking about to each other.

When my dad texts me, I usually have to take a minute to translate wat d hell he is tlking abt.

I don't know if this is meant as a joke.

I have a few of my nieces on Facebook and it really irritates me when I see them using that type of writing. Its not even text speak because they sometimes lengthen the words. For example as above Good becomes Goooooood.

Nervous Wreck

I rckn if ders ne correl8n btween d incidence of txt spk & gender of txt spkers (okay, I can't continue that shít), it's probably due to the fact that, in general, women text more than men do. Most of my male friends hate texting and if I send them more than 2 texts in a convo, they'll just ring me to get the conversation done, plans made etc. If women use text speak more, it's because more women text. IMO anyway...

Also, yes it's defo more an age thing anyway.

Giselle wrote: »

'i' instead of 'I' is 10.0 on the Richter scale of annoyance.

'im' instead of 'I'm' is 1000000000000.0.:)

Shellygoose

LisaLee wrote: »

- hw ws ur nit????
- gr8 tks, gt vry drnk n dncd n br lol!!!

if txt speak continues the "Vowel" will be lost forever

LenaClaire

SugarHigh wrote: »

I agree it seems to be a fashion thing. It's always been fashionable for women to appear stupid. First guess as to why is probably to not intimidate men.

Ugh, one of my co-workers, a smart young lady, plays dumb in front of men. She flat out told me it was to make sure they were not intimidated

iguana

I find that my younger cousins are dreadful for it. The thing I don't get though is why current teenagers use txt spk. It's been over 10 years since I got my first predictive text phone so I assumed txt spk had disappeared since then.

I used to use it back in the late 90s with my first mobile because it really would take forever to type out words on the phone keys, so short cuts were a genuine time saver. Once predictive text appeared I stopped using it unless I was trying to squeeze a long message into 160 characters (usually in an argument with my then boyfriend:p). Then unlimited text bundles came on the market so that became obsolete.

I really don't understand why children who were 4 or 6 when txt spk in SMSes started to die out still use it.

ordinary_girl

The_Morrigan wrote: »

Don't think so in all cases - my mother sends me texts like that and I just have to ignore them...:rolleyes:

Same here, I usually just end up ignoring texts from my mother aswell, it just looks so messy and can make people seem really uneducated at times. I can't stand when people write 'th' instead of 'the'. It's only an 'e', it's not even on the same button as 'h'! It's just so lazy.

I've noticed that women tend to use multiples of exclamation marks and question marks more than men. As for text speak, I think it's pretty level really. I feel old any time I look at it as I genuinely don't understand it.

gaeilgegrinds1

I am so glad I'm not alone in this!

bronte

A female friend of mine and my brother are reli reli bad at it. Ugh.
I just zone out as soon as I see it.

iguana

iguana wrote: »

I find that my younger cousins are dreadful for it. The thing I don't get though is why current teenagers use txt spk. It's been over 10 years since I got my first predictive text phone so I assumed txt spk had disappeared since then.

I used to use it back in the late 90s with my first mobile because it really would take forever to type out words on the phone keys, so short cuts were a genuine time saver. Once predictive text appeared I stopped using it unless I was trying to squeeze a long message into 160 characters (usually in an argument with my then boyfriend:p). Then unlimited text bundles came on the market so that became obsolete.

I really don't understand why children who were 4 or 6 when txt spk in SMSes started to die out still use it.

Sometimes when I'm really tired and a message needs a response, I might use it, but it's pretty rare from me to have real txtspk. I will shorten "the" to "d" though, a habit I picked up in college Or reduce any double letters to a single letter etc. I am obviously lazy in my phone typing but still comprehensible. Completely different from my online typing

My grandparents drop words entirely though - who/when/what etc turns into "?"
e.g. "? r u"
:eek:

I really don't understand it on facebook though. I mean laziness is one thing, but there's a vast difference between laziness and txtspk. Shortening you're to your would be lazy, but really to rele... I mean... ??

I will also note that I think women use emoticons more than men, on boards at least. They'll also use excessive punctuation (this post: check and check).

Permabear

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Permabear

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pickarooney

Do Irish people never get confused by 'R U'? I always read it as 'or you' as that's how I pronounce the letter R.
I could never bring myself to use text speak. I despise texting anyway, but if I have to do it I'm not going to write garbage for no discernible reason.

Hail 2 Da Thief

ztoical wrote: »

Have noticed it but find its an age not gender thing

It's both an age & gender thing I think.
My younger female cousins (late teens/very early twenties) drive me up the wall when they write stuff on Facebook.
I genuinely have to just piece together the stuff I do understand & try to make a sentance out of it.

Hail 2 Da Thief

jujibee wrote: »

Ugh, one of my co-workers, a smart young lady, plays dumb in front of men. She flat out told me it was to make sure they were not intimidated

She's clearly not as bright as you think she is!

jubella

I don't think it's a girl thing. In fact any girls I know are very fussy about their spelling/grammar, and the guys wouldn't be so bothered by it.

Oryx

txspk always means I have to slow down and concentrate to understand it. Maybe thats the point, so I dont understand it? I only know a few girls who use it, in my experience its men who are terrible for it, including my brother, who is 43 and should know better. My husband gets past the whole thing by only ever texting a single word in reply to a message. 'yup', 'no' and 'thanks'.

My pet hate is those women (always women) who update their facebook status with lots of: luv,,, yas,,,, peeps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad:

Maple

I hate txt speak, it galls me. My youngest sister uses it all the time, it drives me bonkers. I often feel like she's speaking a foreign language, it infuriates me trying to decipher what she's saying so most often I text her back telling her that i'm too old for her new fangled young people's language and to spell it out properly for me. Bizarrely enough a best mate of mine who is the same age as I am uses it too.

I do go overboard on use of emoticons though, especially on Boards.

iguana

bluewolf wrote:

Sometimes when I'm really tired and a message needs a response, I might use it, but it's pretty rare from me to have real txtspk. I will shorten "the" to "d" though, a habit I picked up in college Or reduce any double letters to a single letter etc. I am obviously lazy in my phone typing but still comprehensible.

Doesn't that take longer though? The phone will only recognise the correct spelling so if you spell it incorrectly you have to switch off the dictionary and type the word out using several taps per letter.

donegalfella wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I'd just respond with something like.
"Not too bad, stayed in last night reading.
Anything especially interesting on your night out or just general fun?"

I think that use of txt spk has to be a form of rebellion, a sad attempt to be cool by using abbreviations that were in use a decade ago.

iguana

iguana wrote: »

Doesn't that take longer though? The phone will only recognise the correct spelling so if you spell it incorrectly you have to switch off the dictionary and type the word out using several taps per letter.

Oh, I switched off the dictionary a long time ago, I can't stand it.
Even if I never ever used abbreviations, I would still leave it off.
I already text very quickly so I'm not bothered saving time in that respect, and switching to predictive texting now would take a while to adjust to.

liah

Unless they're dyslexic I have trouble understanding why anyone wouldn't like using the dictionary.

It's so much faster and more efficient than using the tap system. I legitimately cannot see a single reason at all to use the tap system when a dictionary is available. Can someone explain? The hell is the appeal sitting there tapping for ages when you can just whiz through?

Giselle

Is there any actual evidence that girls use textspeak more than men, or is it just an assumption based on the posters experience?

We're talking about women being more guilty of this as if its fact, but it may not be the case.

weemulli

Haha

very true :):)

Hail 2 Da Thief

liah wrote: »

I legitimately cannot see a single reason at all to use the tap system when a dictionary is available. Can someone explain? The hell is the appeal sitting there tapping for ages when you can just whiz through?

I think the idea behind it is that a person can shorten the length of their message so that they're not charged for the cost of 2 or even 3 texts if their message is too long to be sent as a single message?

liah

liah wrote: »

Unless they're dyslexic I have trouble understanding why anyone wouldn't like using the dictionary.

It's so much faster and more efficient than using the tap system. I legitimately cannot see a single reason at all to use the tap system when a dictionary is available. Can someone explain? The hell is the appeal sitting there tapping for ages when you can just whiz through?

Because I got used to doing it another way Plus the last time I tried using it, albeit briefly, I got annoyed with having to scroll through different options of words for the same keypresses, or having to add a new word to the dictionary.
I don't think there needs to be any more reason than that

Faith

I cannot stand text speak! I texted someone I work with recently, a woman in her 40's who's qualified to the highest degree and is working in an extremely senior position. I confirmed I'd be in next week, and asked her about a name. The reply was "Cme wed arnd eleven 45. Cnt rem name she wrks [place of work]. Njoy wend". It took me about 5 minutes to decipher it!

iguana

bluewolf wrote: »

Because I got used to doing it another way

Not to be funny but, how? How long did you have your phone that you were so used to slow tapping? Predictive texting has been not only around but widespread for over a decade. (I remember hearing Gerry Ryan rhapsodising about it on the radio in a shop I was working in 10 years ago.) While text messaging only started to get popular 11-12 years ago.

Most texters started out texting on phones with dictionaries. Why get used to the inferior technology when the upgrade is in your hand? It's like having your house set up for fast, wireless broadband but still choosing to dial-up because you can't be bothered to activate the wireless card on your laptop.

SugarHigh

Hail 2 Da Thief wrote: »

She's clearly not as bright as you think she is!

Why?
It's a tactic that I've seen work countless times

SugarHigh

donegalfella wrote: »

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Maybe her aim isn't to be attractive?

If it's in a work setting maybe she doesn't want a target on her head and by acting dim people will write her off as not being competition for them. It's all about knowing when to act dim.

It's not just something women do but it's normally as beneficial for guys.

Handsome Bob

The_Morrigan wrote: »

I absolutely hate it, and have a tendency to ignore emails, texts, messages on facebook etc that are written like that.

I wouldn't say that now, it'd be a pretty ignorant thing to do just because you don't like how they spell. Personally I don't like it whatsoever but I'm not going to ignore them just because their spelling and grammar are not up to my "standards".

wixfjord

Girls & Punctuation, Grammer etc.

XD

Novella

I have a friend who always types the word 'you' as 'yooh'. Drives me insane. I never use text speak, or change the spellings of words, just in the habit of typing properly I guess.
As for predictive text, I can't stand it so I don't use dictionary on my phone but I still write text messages the same way I write on here or on FB. I find I can text faster without dictionary 'cause it often brings up the wrong words.