gEn3rAt|oN gAp

I was just chatting with mUmMi3 Ln yesterday about the teenagers these days, and how we realise how much we've aged, when they start to get on our nerves and totally annoy the shit out of us.

eSp3caLlY sO wh3N dEy sTaRt tO tYp3 lYk ds.

I had initially thought this was a generation issue. That was until I realise recently that there are quite a few people of my generation who are quite in tune with this teen language that is fast taking over the world! (Ok, I exaggerate) This led me to wonder if it really is a generation issue to begin with, or maybe it could be a personality thing.

I honestly tried to recall if I was ever like that when I was in my teens.

Perhaps back then, we had limited access to the internet. Thus, the bIg/SmAl letters weren't really a big part of our lives, but short forms was quite common for our generation. Even then, I was not a big fan of short forms, especially those that requires in depth analysis because the spelling deviates quite a bit from the original word.

A language in itself should be given all the respect it deserves. It is one thing to have bad spelling mistakes and another to do it deliberately. I cannot bring myself to respect you as someone worthy of respect or reasonable intellect when you disrespect a language out of sheer convenience (or should I say laziness). Maybe I am just being very particular about something so simple and insignificant. But really, how can a form of communication be insignificant? Using proper English in my blogs not only indicates how much I respect the English language, but also it reflects the kind of respect to those who reads this blog. Because I choose to communicate correctly and not lazily.

Let me illustrate it this way.

Hi Mary,

E stock 4 gucci r low at e stores. Cld u pls imm. send us some 4 b4 dis wkend, in order 4 us to capture higher sales?

thx and rgds.

I wouldn't be able to take a person who types an email like that seriously simply because he/she could not be bothered to really type a single sentence in proper English. If you are that pressed with time, a simple short email in proper English would suffice.

Say,

Hi Mary,

Gucci stocks are low at the warehouse. Please send us more asap by this weekend.

Thanks.

Respect is given to those who deserves it.
Should you want to be respected, you really have to respect others first.

Perhaps teens these days live on a different planet from the one I am comfortable in. But I honestly cannot understand why they should overlook the importance of good communication. Is it really that difficult to spell things as it is? I would think it is harder to type in big/small letters, because my fingers totally cramped up when I type this testimonial to mUmMi3 LiN.

--

hArLoEz mUmMi3 LiN,
tHaNkiEz 4 b3nG sUcH a nIc3 mUmMi3 2 mE n sTaNdnG bY All mY cOmPlanTs aNd rAnTs 'BoUt 3vErYtHiNg!~!~
yOu aR3 rEaLlY a NiC3 mUmMy wOrZ~
L3T's lOsE w3iGhT tOgEtHeRz aNd KiLl aLl tHoSe sTuPiD grlS oKi3~I luUrRvveEe EeUuu wOrZz~~~

[[We cramp our fingers for cheap thrill]]

--
It was indeed cheap thrill, because we spent nearly half and hour trying to get it all typed out nicely,plus posting it on friendster posed as a problem, because we tried to include <3 in our testimonials but apparently it doesn't display correctly.

After numerous attempts, we manage to succesfully post them up and convince anyone who ever reads those testimonials that we should be disrespected as a person totally.

And honestly, I cannot bring myself to understand why a friend cannot just simply be a friend to them, they need to change the status of their friends to "brother, sister, mother, daddy". If you can't respect your family members, I can't say the same for you. You only have one dad, it is only right you respect that fact and not add onto that list.

Then again, the same can't be said for those prostitutes who adopt a sugar daddy though.