grmr: CWOT?

The first chapter of When Words Collide, "grmr: CWOT?" made me LOL – I mean, it made me laugh out loud. I understood the points that the authors, Lauren Kessler and Duncan McDonald, were trying to get across about proper punctuation and grammar – that it's fallen by the wayside in an attempt to communicate more quickly and efficiently – because I am very guilty of this problem.

The following paragraph in that first chapter stuck out the most:

"The problem is not realizing that there are different rules for different kinds of communication. The problem is that when you practice – every day, many times a day – a certain way of writing, you can get so comfortable with it that you forget how specialized it is. You forget it was created for a narrow purpose, insta-talk, and not for the wider, more important, long-term purpose of communicating thoughts, ideas, issues, information and opinions…"

My text messages are a prime example of this "informal" writing style that Kessler and McDonald refer to.

I recently sent a text to one of my friends that read: "Around 3 I will be. Did u need help w. something?"

Obviously, a few key words and proper punctuation are missing from that message. I'm sure if someone else read that text, he/she would have wondered exactly what I would be around three. Busy? Tired? Sitting in my J420 news-editing class? I meant to say that I would be "free", but purposely left that word out because hey, my friend knew what I was talking about.

The little grammar-Nazi in me knows that I should have written: "I'll be free around three. Did you need help with something?" instead of typing what I did and shortening "you" to "u" and "with" to "w.". But, I didn't because it was faster for me to get my message across in that way. However, reading that first chapter of WWC made me wonder if that reasoning was enough justification to write in such shorthand. If I can communicate quickly with others but fail to get my message across, then what's the point?

What if my friend didn't understand what I meant by "Around 3 I will be"? If he had to re-read my text message just to figure out what I was talking about, then it defeats the purpose of that quick form of communication.

I suppose it's better for all if "formal" writing is used in all situations, from text messaging to research papers. It will be a sure thing that our message is conveyed, at the very least.