Is u taking over?

biko · 14-07-2015 9:43am #1

I read a lot of posts/emails every day and it seems people with otherwise perfectly adequate English are moving to use "u" instead of "you".

In business emails it's less prevalent so far but on internet forums like boards it's quite common.
Some people will also mix the use of "u" and "you" in a post, sometime even in the same sentence.

Even though "u" is the correct word to use in Dutch I doubt this has any bearing at all on Irish people.

So why do they do it?

km991148 · 14-07-2015 9:47am

biko wrote: »

In business emails it's less prevalent..so far but on internet forums like boards it's quite common.

exactly - its an internet forum - who really cares?

Grammar nazis on forums do me head in (go on..)

Language changes and evolves and is influenced by many things, including tech etc - embrace it or not, but dont be upset by it..

Now confusing the word sometime with sometimes.. dont get me started on that!

Birneybau · 14-07-2015 9:47am

There's worse than that granddad.

K.Flyer · 14-07-2015 9:49am

Hopefully it's acceptance by some is not the thin edge of the wedge towards "txt spk" becoming more the norm.
Even my kids hate txt spk and roll their eyes at its usage.
Jus gld bords kept it out. :sigh:

Antar Bolaeisk · 14-07-2015 9:49am

I still lament the downfall of okay.

valoren · 14-07-2015 9:49am

Personally, it's a useful filter to determine who is an idiot and who is not.

Shenshen · 14-07-2015 9:51am

Don't like it, same as I don't like any kind of text speak. As a non-native speaker, I find myself sometimes riddling for minutes over a 5 word sentence before I manage to de-code it.

If you don't want to be understood, why bother trying to communicate in the first place? Very puzzling altogether.

Junkyard Tom · 14-07-2015 9:52am

Ewe've goat to be kidding me with this bull.

Farm animals.

km991148 · 14-07-2015 9:52am

K.Flyer wrote: »

Hopefully it's acceptance by some is not the thin edge of the wedge towards "txt spk" becoming more the norm.
Even my kids hate txt spk and roll their eyes at its usage.
Jus gld bords kept it out. :sigh:

This case I dont think it is, I think its been influenced by text speak, but is not directly text speak (more akin to 'ok' vs 'okay' as above).

valoren wrote: »

Personally, it's a useful filter to determine who is an idiot and who is not.

Contextually yes - in a professional text then the sender of the mail etc is going to get ignored - but judging a post on boards because of u vs you nagh.. often there are many other clues to idiocy around here!

my friend · 14-07-2015 9:53am

u may have a point

Big Nasty · 14-07-2015 9:53am

Q. Is U taking over?

A. I is.

Mully1988 · 14-07-2015 9:53am

Wot d prob m8? U nt goin gud?

dodzy · 14-07-2015 9:54am

valoren wrote: »

Personally, it's a useful filter to determine who's an idiot and who's not.

FYP:D

km991148 · 14-07-2015 9:56am

dodzy wrote: »

FYP:D

??

u is not serious? ffs Best FYP Evvvvvs!

kowloon · 14-07-2015 10:12am

Lyk if u cryd

OiL RiG · 14-07-2015 10:19am

My problem with 'u' and other other scourges of txt spk is that though they save the writer a precious second, it usually takes me far longer to decipher the message.

When a message has perfect spelling and grammar, I can fly through it, basically speed reading. However, when txt spk is involved, I have to slow down and read it in idiot mode. Spot the difference:

'Hey, are you coming to the party by the lake tomorrow? It's going to be awesome.'

'hey r u cming 2 da partie by da lake 2moro its gunna b awsum'

*I am not actually invited to a party by the lake tomorrow, but the point stands. It's really not that difficult or time consuming to write properly.

anncoates · 14-07-2015 10:21am

One of the first albums I bought was Purple Rain, so it's a doddle for me.

jimgoose · 14-07-2015 10:21am

This is part of a disgusting habit developed in response to the old T9 text-input system on mobile phone keypads, and there is no excuse for it anymore with today's powerful smartphones with their virtual keyboards. I hate it very much. :mad:

Lingua Franca · 14-07-2015 10:24am

I cringe when I see it and can't help but make snap judgements on their intelligence. Same for "ur" and "nt".

biko wrote: »

Even though "u" is the correct word to use in Dutch I doubt this has any bearing at all on Irish people.

"U" in Dutch is very formal and archaic and well on it's way out. I think I've used it twice in 4 years, both times with the elderly. "Je" is the usual word.

14-07-2015 10:27am

Never "u" but often "ya" informally. Like "What ya up to?"

Talib Fiasco · 14-07-2015 10:36am

People actually judge a person on how they spell a word? Bloody hell. Not everyone was fed the dictionary as a child and as well as that literacy difficulties are very common. Bullsh*t slang like "totes" and "ship" are more relevant if you're into your indicators of your intelligence, not something that has the same phonological basis as the letter U.

petes · 14-07-2015 10:39am

I don't use it but I really couldn't give a toss if someone else is when they are replying.

Junkyard Tom · 14-07-2015 10:47am

This thread is a bit racist against dyslexians.

Boring username · 14-07-2015 11:05am

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

People actually judge a person on how they spell a word? Bloody hell. Not everyone was fed the dictionary as a child and as well as that literacy difficulties are very common. Bullsh*t slang like "totes" and "ship" are more relevant if you're into your indicators of your intelligence, not something that has the same phonological basis as the letter U.

Imagine your bank sending you the following text:

"hi m8,

im ur new advzr in d bank

ur munyz n gud handz u dnt hav 2 wry bout a ting . iv bin wrking h3re 4 a wile nw , i mite put ur munny in stoks 4 u ok , jst txt y r n ,ok ?

l8r xxxxx"

Either we have standards, or we don't. In the world of business, a certain degree of professionalism is expected. If someone can't make the effort to string a proper sentence together, what else are they being lazy with?

eternal · 14-07-2015 11:07am

I

U.

Boring username · 14-07-2015 11:11am

eternal wrote: »

I U.

I....... I testicle sack you?

Talib Fiasco · 14-07-2015 11:15am

Boring username wrote: »

Imagine your bank sending you the following text:

"hi m8,

im ur new advzr in d bank ur munyz n gud handz u dnt hav 2 wry bout a ting . iv bin wrking h3re 4 a wile nw , i mite put ur munny in stoks 4 u ok , jst txt y r n ,ok ?

l8r xxxxx"

Either we have standards, or we don't. In the world of business, a certain degree of professionalism is expected. If someone can't make the effort to string a proper sentence together, what else are they being lazy with?

I'm not talking about someone using text language, I'm simply referring to a post where they said using "u" for "you" is a

useful filter to determine who is an idiot

. That is just idiotic and arrogant. As I said, a lot of people have literacy difficulties. Of course txt speak is a different thing altogether, but that post implied they'd toss the book at a person for spelling you as u and that alone. It's absolute snobbery.

Shenshen · 14-07-2015 11:45am

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

As I said, a lot of people have literacy difficulties.

I know, I'm one of them. And deciphering a text with lots of incomplete or misspelt words is not easy, I can tell you.

Talib Fiasco · 14-07-2015 11:59am

Shenshen wrote: »

I know, I'm one of them. And deciphering a text with lots of incomplete or misspelt words is not easy, I can tell you.

I bet it is. But surely one solitary "u" wouldn't be too much of a hassle would it? In fact for someone with literacy difficulties, the simper the text is, the easier it is to comprehend and extract meaning from it. That's my point, a solitary "u" for "you" isn't a valid reason to claim somebody is an idiot. Having rampant teenager text speak is a completely different topic altogether, that poster on page 1 and I were making reference to "u" and that alone. That's completely unfair and illogical in my eyes to blast someone for that

Samaris · 14-07-2015 12:31pm

This is nothing to do with dyslexia or literacy difficulties. It may be to do with bad practice and a lack of caring though. At BEST, if one can argue that someone may really not know how to spell "you" due to being illiterate, it's probably not the best idea to encourage it as correct and fine.

Dyslexia seems to get blamed for a lot, including just not being arsed. With dyslexia, a person tends to see the letters wrong, as I understand it. I have a mild dyscalculia myself, and I might read 4 as 5 in my head, or write it down when I intend 4. Same or p and q and b and d and all the rest of it in dyslexia.

U is irrelevant to dyslexics and it's doing a lot of people a disservice to encourage its usage. Also, the notion that it's "much less prevalent in business emails" made me cringe a bit, as it suggests it may have appeared in them a few times at least.

Mr. CooL ICE · 14-07-2015 12:40pm

Whatever about "u", "would of", "should of" and "could of" are here and making me feel oppressed.

Harry Palmr · 14-07-2015 12:44pm

Chillax or LOLLERS or summat.

Rawr · 14-07-2015 12:46pm

You pressed U, referring to me.

The correct answer is U!

Talib Fiasco · 14-07-2015 12:53pm

Samaris wrote: »

This is nothing to do with dyslexia or literacy difficulties. It may be to do with bad practice and a lack of caring though. At BEST, if one can argue that someone may really not know how to spell "you" due to being illiterate, it's probably not the best idea to encourage it as correct and fine.

Dyslexia seems to get blamed for a lot, including just not being arsed. With dyslexia, a person tends to see the letters wrong, as I understand it. I have a mild dyscalculia myself, and I might read 4 as 5 in my head, or write it down when I intend 4. Same or p and q and b and d and all the rest of it in dyslexia.

U is irrelevant to dyslexics and it's doing a lot of people a disservice to encourage its usage. Also, the notion that it's "much less prevalent in business emails" made me cringe a bit, as it suggests it may have appeared in them a few times at least.

Dyslexia is a lot broader than the general public think of though. It's not just the simple letter difficulty. U is very relevant to people with dyslexia, as they have a weakness in relation to sounds or phonemes in language. It's the same reason they mix up two/too/to and end up writing the number or why spelling words ending with y end with an e are common.

And isn't dyscalculia to do with numbers and maths and nothing to do with letters and literacy at all? You really cannot compare the two to be honest.

Shenshen · 14-07-2015 1:17pm

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

Dyslexia is a lot broader than the general public think of though. It's not just the simple letter difficulty. U is very relevant to people with dyslexia, as they have a weakness in relation to sounds or phonemes in language. It's the same reason they mix up two/too/to and end up writing the number or why spelling words ending with y end with an e are common.

And isn't dyscalculia to do with numbers and maths and nothing to do with letters and literacy at all? You really cannot compare the two to be honest.

If you want to argue the finer points, what you describe is dysgraphia, not dyslexia.

Dyslexia usually describes problems which include sounding out words, spelling words, reading quickly, pronouncing words when reading aloud, and understanding what was read.
So for a dyslexic, stumbling across a u instead of you would be a problem, while for someone with dysgraphia writing u instead of you would be a nice shortcut.

And as a dyslexic, yes, I recongise words differently. I will read a u as a oo sound, not as you. And while it won't stop me from understanding after a second or so, it will slow down my reading of whatever message I might be looking at.

Either way, I think if you post or send a text, you are the one trying to communicate something. The least you can do is try and ensure people can read what you're trying to say.

Talib Fiasco · 14-07-2015 1:22pm

Shenshen wrote: »

If you want to argue the finer points, what you describe is dysgraphia, not dyslexia.

Dyslexia usually describes problems which include sounding out words, spelling words, reading quickly, pronouncing words when reading aloud, and understanding what was read.
So for a dyslexic, stumbling across a u instead of you would be a problem, while for someone with dysgraphia writing u instead of you would be a nice shortcut.

And as a dyslexic, yes, I recongise words differently. I will read a u as a oo sound, not as you. And while it won't stop me from understanding after a second or so, it will slow down my reading of whatever message I might be looking at.

Either way, I think if you post or send a text, you are the one trying to communicate something. The least you can do is try and ensure people can read what you're trying to say.

I thought you have dyscalculia and not dyslexia?

Your last point is true, but what if you simply cannot do that due to the learning difficulty you have? Should they be tarred and feathered like the poster on page 1 is willing to do?

DublinWriter · 14-07-2015 1:26pm

biko wrote: »

So why do they do it?

In faith, doest thou feele irkith bye such practyse?

eamonnq · 14-07-2015 1:29pm

OiL RiG wrote: »

*I am not actually invited to a party by the lake tomorrow, but the point stands. It's really not that difficult or time consuming to write properly.

Don't worry, there will be other parties that you may get invited to, or you can have your own party and don't invite any of them!!!

Baron Kurtz · 14-07-2015 1:29pm

valoren wrote: »

Personally, it's a useful filter to determine who is an idiot and who is not.

There's no real need to add any more to this thread. This says it all.

Shenshen · 14-07-2015 1:30pm

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

I thought you have dyscalculia and not dyslexia?

Your last point is true, but what if you simply cannot do that due to the learning difficulty you have? Should they be tarred and feathered like the poster on page 1 is willing to do?

Nope, that was a poster called Samaris. I'm Shenshen. But yes, easy enough to mistake

In my personal experience, people who actually have a reading/writing disorder can usually be spotted by the very careful attention they pay to their spelling and punctuation. They overcompensate. They proof-read their posts before clicking submit. They use spell checkers (and these days, sometimes end up with US spellings because of this).

I wouldn't tar or feather anyone over their spelling, but I do find that if it's too much of an effort for me to read what they've written because they couldn't be bothered, I can't be bothered to read it.
I might miss out on pearls of socratic wisdom, but that's the risk I take.

darkpagandeath · 14-07-2015 1:34pm

I'm going to go with Language and writing evolving all the time. I mean where did € come from :pac::pac::pac:

eamonnq · 14-07-2015 1:34pm

Shenshen wrote: »

I might miss out on pearls of socratic wisdom, but that's the risk I take.

I'd say there is little danger of that on boards.

Eugene Norman · 14-07-2015 1:37pm

The polls a bit off. I wouldn't use it on here, but it's surely acceptable in an informal SMS message.

Shorthand has been common for centuries, it's only in the typing/computer era (ignoring stenographers) that it disappeared from most writing.

Talib Fiasco · 14-07-2015 1:37pm

Shenshen wrote: »

Nope, that was a poster called Samaris. I'm Shenshen. But yes, easy enough to mistake

In my personal experience, people who actually have a reading/writing disorder can usually be spotted by the very careful attention they pay to their spelling and punctuation. They overcompensate. They proof-read their posts before clicking submit. They use spell checkers (and these days, sometimes end up with US spellings because of this).

I wouldn't tar or feather anyone over their spelling, but I do find that if it's too much of an effort for me to read what they've written because they couldn't be bothered, I can't be bothered to read it.
I might miss out on pearls of socratic wisdom, but that's the risk I take.

Hahahaha my apologies, perhaps I might be dyslexic myself :P

I am desperate for proof reading my texts/posts before I send them but that's more of an OCD thing than anything else, but I agree even those with learning difficulties should proof read too. It's clear though that education is critical. As a student teacher, and please God in a year or so, a teacher, I was astounded by some children I have encountered with literacy difficulties and this isn't so much a new thing either. There is a massive emphasis put on aiding people with dyslexia and other MGLD's which is essential, but this explicit intervention is definitely something that is new which makes me wonder how many people cannot even proof read their texts/letters as they were never taught the basics of revising, editing and redrafting their writing.