The short abbreviations for English words that are used in messages is the texting language of today. While many people use these abbreviations to the point that a message is unreadable to others, some other people choose to use the entire words with correct grammar. The shortened versions of words are convenient, quicker, and you can fit a lot more message into a text since the allowable number of characters per message is usually limited.
This abbreviated form of words has many different names. It is known as text speak, chat speak, text talk, or SMS language. Most cell phone users use the language, but many cell phone plans and other communication plans limit the number of characters that can be put into any one message, so shortening the words is a way that people can get their entire message through to a recipient. For characters to take up less space in messaging, the text language almost follows a slang format. The language does not follow Standard English grammar rules to be sure, and the words that are used are not found in formal dictionaries. There are, however, special text language dictionaries that are available for people to learn what certain abbreviations stand for if they receive a message that makes no sense to them.
There are no set standards for the shortened word forms here, and a little creativity is all it takes to shorten words while still making them recognizable. Some words have many vowels simply removed. The word later becomes ltr for example. Another popular way of shortening messages is to substitute numbers in for words or letters. Instead of typing out I will see you later someone could instead type I will c u l8r.
Using texting language can also save people a lot of money if they have a communications plan that charges for messaging per character. When you shorten your message by using the abbreviated forms of words, you can save some cents, which can really add up to some savings when the monthly bill comes along. The whole idea behind the shortened messaging is to get a message across to someone else without taking up a lot of time or money to do it. Using the least amount of characters possible to save money, space, and time is more valuable today than ever. In addition to abbreviations, punctuation is often ignored, too. There are many phones today that are equipped with a QWERTY keyboard, which resembles a computer keyboard to facilitate using the texting language for users.
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