I have just returned from a weekend in Liverpool where the Institute of Linguists held their annual Members' Day. The keynote speaker was Professor David Crystal and the subject of his talk was texting (he has just published a book Txting: the Gr8 Db8). He referred to the South-African born (but now UK-based) poet Norman Silver, who has written many books for children. These are two of his text or txt poems, taken from David Crystal's article in the January 2008 issue of ELT Journal (the article can also be read on David Crystal's site).
txt commndmnts
1 u shall luv ur mobil fone with all ur hart
2 u & ur fone shall neva b apart
3 u shall nt lust aftr ur neibrs fone nor thiev
4 u shall b prepard @ all times 2 tXt & 2 recv
5 u shall use LOL & othr acronyms in conversatns
6 u shall b zappy with ur ast*r*sks & exc!matns!!
7 u shall abbrevi8 & rite words like theyr sed
8 u shall nt speak 2 sum1 face2face if u cn msg em insted
9 u shall nt shout with capitls XEPT IN DIRE EMERGNCY+
10 u shall nt consult a ninglish dictnry
langwij
langwij
is hi-ly infectious
children
the world ova
catch it
from parence
by word of mouth
the yung
r specially vulnerable
so care
shud b taken how langwij
is spread
symptoms include acute
goo-goo
& the equally serious ga-ga
if NE child
is infected with langwij
give em
3 Tspoons of txt
b4 bedtime
& ½ a tablet of verse
after every meal
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