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By Christina C., Hopedale, MA

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You need to send a quick text to your mom to tell her soccer practice is canceled. In an effort not to get caught, you reach ever so slowly, skillfully, and one-handedly into your backpack. Drawing your bright purple handheld lifeline from the front pocket, you are careful not to press any button that will reveal your mission to Mr. Boring, who is yapping away at the front of the room. With the phone in your lap, you try not to look down as you type: “sccer canceled! pick^ @2 thx <3.”

Photo credit: Adam S., Kingdom City, MO

Sent. You slip it into you pocket, fearing you will not be able to discreetly get it back in your bag. But wait … your BFF Lucy’s hair looked utterly ridiculous when you passed her in the hall on your way to bio. It’s unthinkable to wait until lunch to tell her. Only a horrid friend would let her saunter around with a mortifying hairdo! So, you repeat the sneaky process of texting: “Fix ur hair, its sticking ^!!!!” Now, not only have you just missed two whole possibly important minutes of Mr. Boring’s lecture, but you have furthered the decline of your spelling and vocabulary.

Could you understand the title of this article? Anyone who has ever texted or used instant messaging can. Most teens love to text. What our English teachers, parents, and future employers would prefer us to say is “I love grammar,” which most of us don’t. There are times when we have to use proper grammar and times when we don’t. The problem is that the line between when to spell-check and proofread and when to just type and send is becoming blurred and almost invisible.

The way we type when we use virtual communication devices affects the way we spell – not just when we’re in a rush, but on school or job assignments too. Ever caught yourself writing u instead of you in an essay for school? What about tho instead of though? In a world where instant gratification is everything, we simply do not take the time to add the few extra letters. Although teens today will eventually become the ones who set the standards for spelling and grammar, our elders are calling the shots now, and they tend to look down on spelling and grammatical errors. This could easily affect one’s grades or job opportunities.

Notice it or not, the words we choose, or rather don’t choose, when we use informal communication have significance. Rarely in a text message will a teen use the extensive vocabulary preached by our educators. Seldom do we see the word exultant for happy, morose for sad, querulous for annoyed, or ecstatic for glad in a text. We must reawaken this vast glossary of obscure and unused words if we expect to succeed on exams like the SATs that affect our future.

So, go ahead, work your fingers to the bone texting, but before you hit send, think about what you have written. Consider the words you chose and the way you spelled them and maybe, just maybe, you will retype your message.

This piece has also been published in Teen Ink's monthly print magazine.

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This article has 66 comments. Post your own!

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headinclouds said...
Nov. 6 at 9:05 pm:

thank you for writing this, almost all the time I have to catch myself before writing in text, like this:
thx 4 ritin this almost al da time i hav 2 catch myself b4 ritin in txt lik this

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Neol P. said...
Nov. 2 at 6:59 pm:

why would you need to text anyways, you can always use skype. its availible on most platforms.

omg_its_me10 replied...
Nov. 5 at 9:50 pm :

Skype would be easy but what if it's not avalible at the time or the person you need to talk to doesnt have a skype? Also when i text its the only time i get to spell words like wat or omg.

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BriarRose said...
Oct. 31 at 5:48 pm:

Wow, I know how much it ticks me off when people write as if they were texting, but at the same time I use words and phrases like that. It's just a bad habbit that teens in general need to break.

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dragonfan said...
Oct. 9 at 2:24 pm:

i agree people do text alot but they cant help it i get on my e-mail all the time and i use text talk but they need to learn when to use text talk and when to use regular writing

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Alysha said...
Oct. 9 at 9:45 am:

Yes, i think that it is true that kids dont relize when they are texting and i-ming each other, how much they are using bad grammer.

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writer24/7/365 said...
Sep. 17 at 6:22 pm:

This is really good. I luv texting but don't talk that way, out loud or in school assignments. I luv your article!

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ChristinaC said...
Sep. 17 at 3:57 pm:

Thank you so much for the positive feedback, please keep in mind that I was this article does NOT say "ppl who txt r idiots", this article is just an attempt to motivate teens to watch little errors and keep them from interfeiring with their classroom language. +txting lik this is rrlly annyoing :)

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ReallyRachel said...
Jul. 26 at 4:28 am:

As a nearly teen girl, I absolutley love to text. However, I don't use chatspeak. I find it ridiculous. I have a keybroad phone and I use it to my full potential. I spell out everything, because I am a sucker for a phone with a keybroad. Of course, I love my smilies. :D

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Emily M. said...
Jul. 25 at 7:19 pm:

okkk so i love txting to death. i use txting words and sumtimes i accidently use it at skool. ive never rlly gotten in trouble for it cuz my teachers get wat i mean to say. but i hav gotten points off once for grammer/spelling. i try to not txt much but sumtimes its hard not to. i like this story and i hope it helps me to not txt as much as i do now. tho my habbits arent as bad as last month (22,000 txts. sent and recieved during and outside of skool)

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Claire M. said...
Jul. 24 at 3:44 am:

Yeah, I hate when people shorten words in illegible ways too. However, just because I text doesn't make me an idiot. It makes me a normal teenager; and, just because my friends text in shorthand doesn't mean they're idiots either. I agree, let's all write normally. But expecting me to text with vocab words? Come on now. I've got a pretty hefty vocabulary, but I'd like to save it for the classroom, thanks.

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forever_dancer said...
Jul. 15 at 1:20 am:

This is so crazy true! and to all of you talking about freedom of speach and its america and all that stuff, im sorry, but speach isnt speach unless you know how to actually use some of those more difficult words. Also, havent you ever heard that nothing is free??? And tweedle dee, i completely agree with you. I have a cousin who texts all the time, even when im there, and i hardly ever see her!!!!! so our conversations sort of go like this-
ME-"hey(cousin's name- lets call her K)i have... (more »)

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vampiremistress said...
Jul. 8 at 8:15 pm:

i luv textin i use text wordz n class al the time

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Minerva556776543345544556776543345433 said...
Jun. 26 at 3:06 am:

I can't text (I'm just not allowed to) and I really am overjoyed at the fact that my parents have taken that away from me, because I am far better in English class than 99% of the boneheads I go to school with. Great article. I will not bring up anyone's name, but whilst looking through the comments, I saw that someone had written an input that consisted mostly of texting language. I seldom can't decipher what they say, and most of the time, I say "[insert friend's name here], hav... (more »)

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volleychick said...
Jun. 16 at 2:18 pm:

yaa teachers always say phones are bad and they need work children always need to focus more on work well i 4 1 always txt not just my parents but the person sitting next too me and the person 3 rows away from me!!!!

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rubiesrrare said...
May 29 at 9:37 pm:

to all the texting "luvrs" out there, be warned, in most classes f u wrte n txt, u fail!!!! (can u say "cu n sumr schl"?)

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smiley loo :) said...
May 26 at 2:18 pm:

ok, i absolutly love to txt. and in classes i dont use txt language. i have been txting ever since i was 9, and now im 13. and i still do not use txt language in my essays or just in regular writing. so really, is there a problem?

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monsta_bree said...
May 25 at 2:26 am:

Personally, I text like a maniac and still use different and more vocarbulary words. I type professonally all the time and other I tye like a normal teen. I don't think texting is declining teens grammer, I just think that it's showing the laziness of teens.

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English Teacher said...
May 22 at 9:32 pm:

The real question is why is it so important to be plugged in to an artificial world? Believe me, you can survive without texting. You can survive, dare I say it, without a cell phone. You can survive without ipod wires plugged into your ears. We survived. The problem is that if teens stay plugged in to all these modern devices, I fear you will lose out on what is really happening in your surroundings--and that includes Mr. Boring's lecture. I'm tired of seeing text abbreviations filter int... (more »)

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Spencer N. said...
May 16 at 1:33 pm:

maybe if teahcers said that cell phones are allowed, maybe we wouldnt type those stupid characters really fast because you dont want to get in trouble. its not always your will to type like that but you have to in order to not get cuaght

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Shane M. said...
May 15 at 9:46 pm:

I luv this articl and i luv 2 txt. Let kids txt how they want, it's their problm

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alyson J. said...
May 12 at 5:34 pm:

I love using txtin words it is so fun. Way faster you just got to know where you are when you are using them.

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PLP said...
May 3 at 4:59 pm:

I do use texting acronyms sometimes, as abreviations. But I think texting, is overall kind of annoying.

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Evynn A. said...
Apr. 27 at 7:38 pm:

I love this article! me and my friend get in to some debates because he loves grammar and I dont use it very often

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d3nyM3nOt said...
Apr. 23 at 3:22 pm:

this is so true. i have gotten in trouble at school for texting. i have even put c for see in papers,and when i got the paper back i felt like an idiot. we really should pay more attention to what we are doing to our brains.

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Blahh said...
Apr. 22 at 7:53 pm:

I do txt alot and i do type very bad cause of IMing so dont blame it on txting!

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Ren-P. said...
Apr. 18 at 3:53 am:

Great article! I always use proper grammar when I text! :)

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Molly :) said...
Apr. 10 at 6:30 pm:

I loved your article! So true nowadays, my friends are always texting during humanities class and stuff, they don't even pay attention to the lesson!

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Pam_2013 said...
Apr. 5 at 12:39 am:

I totally agree with you! My friends always make fun of me because i take longer than 30 seconds to reply to a text, but it's because I dont typ lyk tis. Great article! :]

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Sara B. said...
Apr. 4 at 3:19 am:

I text alottt, but I still type properly.. :P

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iTrumpet42 said...
Mar. 31 at 1:28 am:

i always txt shortened words. if u txt longer wrds then u will run ^ ur fon bil

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Shelby W. said...
Mar. 27 at 1:48 am:

I love to text a lot, but I always spell correctly, also while I'ming

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PlumbThePuma said...
Mar. 18 at 3:27 am:

I also lov 2 txt lol and do it all the time and I havnt had to much of a problem with typing and im in a college prep. english class.

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brinamcg said...
Mar. 16 at 9:07 pm:

We all have freedom of speech but i get what ur saying

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jessica said...
Mar. 16 at 2:33 pm:

I disagree. My friends and I never text like that. Sure, we don't capitalize, but only the immature kids use words like that while the more popular kids spell out their words.

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Haley G. said...
Mar. 6 at 9:04 pm:

i luv txtin nd n da summer i fnd myself lmost nvr usin real wrds. so den wen i go bak ta skool i gotta member nt 2 wrte lyk thiz!

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derosh said...
Mar. 5 at 11:26 am:

Actually,I text messages with the longest way you can ever see but maybe it's because I don't text many messages.By the way ,I know many friends that texting messages shortening,and it's because they text many messages,so it's why this connected with texting how much.

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Alyssa A. said...
Feb. 26 at 8:52 pm:

i dnt no wat u gi's r tlking about........... i dnt txt type i use full wrds.....

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V1234 said...
Feb. 25 at 10:50 pm:

i agree but i also dont agree because you could sent texts like that and start writing like it also but, if you don't write with short words like that then your messages will cost more and you phone bill might go high.

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A Random Guy said...
Feb. 25 at 10:41 pm:

I think that every one has the freedom to write however the they want. This is a free country after all isn’t it? Well I think it is and I believe that I can write a word any way that I want to. No matter what other people be it old or young think of me doing it.

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Sally Anne said...
Feb. 25 at 9:32 pm:

I agree with your point of view on teens choices of vocabulary and grammar while texting affecting everyday routines. When a person doesn't take the time to write a full word or just writes abbreviations or symbols, they are more likely to unconsciously write the same thing in other everyday assignments.

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star said...
Feb. 25 at 9:25 pm:

I disagree, i wouldn't want to wast time spelling out the word though when i could just text - tho. when i write a paper i never switch the word you for the letter u. If it were up to me, i would let students write like that for essays, and stories.

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Alaskan Girl said...
Feb. 25 at 9:21 pm:

I agree with the article. I think this because over time after repeating something, it becomes a habit. I love to text and the next time i do i will try to write every word out. :)

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deffany said...
Feb. 25 at 9:21 pm:

Using shortened words or symbols when your texting does not affect what you put on a piece of paper when you’re actually trying to write a paper.
it also doesn’t affect your vocabulary because its just texting. If you took all the time in the world to text a perfect message, you probably would get caught by Mr. Boring. The point of texting is to send a message that doest take long to read or write. There are times when we have to use proper grammar, but it doest have to be in ... (more »)

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Edward's Girl said...
Feb. 25 at 9:20 pm:

I agree because the way we look at our writing is the way we memorize it. After we get into a habit about doing it that way. If kids keep doing that then the grammar is going to decrease.

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ChristinaC said...
Feb. 24 at 11:11 pm:

Thank you all for the nice comments and constructive criticism, I really appreciate Megan's comment, because that was an angle I didn't really consider. The point of this article was more to focus (

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frmgrl95 said...
Feb. 24 at 12:42 am:

i totally agree with u Christina when i txt i barely ever type out everything since it takes 2 long tho i always make sure that i write the whole word when i am in skewl if kids do that then i agree w/ u its fine.

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Meagan said...
Feb. 23 at 1:35 am:

I don't think typing in that form degrades your grammar skills unless you let it. I'm one of the few who has not gone to level of leaving out several letters and punctuation marks. I spell correctly in texts, emails, blogs, everything. Typing like that reflects who you are and if you write like that in school, well, then it reflects that you don't have your priorities straight in the least bit.

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little miss me said...
Feb. 23 at 1:15 am:

I agree to some extent. No one wants to spell out the whole word when they can get their point across in 3 or 4 letters. Some teenagers know when to use correct grammar. As long as your "txting" doesn't show in your school work I say..........txt on n ttyl

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Halle D. said...
Feb. 21 at 4:10 am:

i text oh so much ! but i only shorten some words ! but i agree with you, oh so much !

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