SPEAKING OF SHORTCUTS

Posted on Sat, Dec. 17, 2005
By Michelle Quinn
Mercury News

"Why laugh when you can say ``El oh el'' instead?
For that matter, saying ``Ninety-nine'' at the end of an evening works just as well as ``Nighty-night.'' Need to cheer up a friend? Try whispering, ``Less than three.'' When typed, it makes a sideways heart <3.">

Articolo del Mercury News sul drawback delle espressioni tipiche, abbreviazioni ed emoticons, di SMS, Chat e Instant Messaging sulla lingua parlata, soprattutto nel gergo giovanile. Interessante innovazione (ma quanto effimera?) dallo (parlato-)scritto al parlato.
Interessante anche il fatto che un'abbreviazione scritta come SRW ("Ess ar why", trisillabo), se pronunziata è più lunga dell'originario bisillabo sorry.

Qualche esempio:

2BCTND To Be Continued 2G4U Too Good For You 4YEO For Your Eyes Only AFAIK As Far As I Know AKA Also Known As ASAP As soon as possible AWHFY Are We Having Fun Yet? AWGTHTGTTA Are We Going To Have To Go Through That Again AYPI And Your Point Is? B4 Before BBL Be Back Later BBIAF Be Back in a Few BBIAB Be Back in a Bit [...]

Segnalo inoltre l'articolo "Lingo Online: A Report on the Language of the Keyboard Generation"
A Report by: Dr. Neil Randall, Ph.D. Department of English, University of Waterloo, accessibile in pdf online al sito di Neil Randall.