"In fact, he said, with the exception of a few recent coinages like LOL, “virtually all the commonly used ones can be found in English a century ago.” For example, bn (been), btwn (between) and wd (would) can all be found in a 1942 dictionary of abbreviations".
Reaction-
I was surprised to find that most of the abbreviations that people in the present use while texting have been used for the past 100 years. If this is so then why is there an issue with the use of these acronyms all of a sudden? If they did not affect spelling and the English language in the past then why is it such an issue now?
I believe that the use of acronyms did not significantly impact the English language in the past; it will not impact the language that we use today. Even if people did start spelling words by using the acronyms, what would be the harm? The spelling of words has changed before and our language has survived.
I think that this texting issue has been blown out of proportion. The fact that many people text and use the abbreviations of words should not be such a big deal. It is not going to change, so what is the point of fighting it.
Related Resource-
This website gives the history of the use of acronyms. Presidents, businesses as well as physicists initiated the popularity of using acronyms.
References-
Joyner, J. (2010, October 1). A history of acronyms. Retrieved from http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/a-history-of-acronyms/
Shea, A. (2010, January 22). The keypad solution. The times magazine, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/magazine/24FOB-onlanguage-t.html
I agree that we shouldn't fight the texting issue. Number one, the young people are going to text and use their own language. Number two, adults are going to text and use their own language. If there is an understanding on that concept, what IS the big deal? Acronyms have been around for a long time and people have always had their own style of using them, so far it hasn't done too much damage.
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