.02 on txt msgs

Ten years ago it looked as though texting was going to reduce the English language to a series of abbreviations and acronyms. The story today is very different. Far from destroying the language, we’re enjoying a golden age of written communication.

Screens are small, keypads are tricky and there's a limit of 160 characters, yet according to Netlingo.com, 79 million people in the US alone are texting each other every day – and the number is growing. That's a lot of people working their thumbs furiously across mini-keypads, squinting into small screens and generally hacking at the English language. Right?

Wrong. Although concerns about the impact of text message lingo on the English language may have been well-founded five years ago, the situation has changed, and is still changing, rapidly. Already, the text abbreviations of gamers, texters and online chatters are looking cute and creaky – and very much yesterday’s story.

Here's a brief text conversation, something you might have seen five years ago:

• F2T? ?4U Get my msg? 
• 404
• ST&D!

What was all that about?
(You can find out at the end of the article.) Fortunately, text abbreviations are on their way out. Predictive text software, such as T9 and iTAP, is in.  A kind of interactive dictionary, the software guesses the word your typing by juggling four criteria:

• The first letters of the word you've begun to type
• The semantic context of the sentence
• The way the word fits into the sentence structure
• And, spookiest of all, how often you've used that word before

The upshot: we're dropping the abbreviations because they take longer to type than the software takes to come up with regular words. And it's hard to remember all those abbreviations – one website boasts more than 700.

Texting technology equals great writing
Surprisingly, use of this technology promises to turn us into a generation of great writers. When we text someone, the software forces us to think fast – at speaking speed. As a result, the language choices we make bring the text closer to spoken than written language, leading to a more accessible style with greater flow.

Most phones still restrict the amount of text that can be sent at one time – and often network providers charge more for long messages. Because of this, messages need to be concise. You have to find the core message in everything you want to say, a quality shared by all successful marketing copy, business communication and best-selling novels. Simply put, it's a skill essential to effective writing.

Predictive text also promises to improve our spelling. For one thing, we won't read so many misspelled words. But more importantly, the software forces us to look at words. It's almost like a game: what's this one… is it… could it be…? You almost feel like placing a bet. This means we're measuring each word the dictionary suggests against our internal map of the language. Correct spellings are constantly reinforced.

As a result, far from creating a generation of illiterates, it looks as though texting could produce a flurry of literary giants. Never have so many people written so much text so quickly, so concisely and so stylishly.

The end of this glorious age in sight
Just as technology saved us from abbreviation hell, it looks as though it's set to dismantle our newly-won passion for writing. Voice recognition technology (VRT) is already close to making keyboards – especially those little mobile phone keypads – redundant. Originally developed for PC users with poor eyesight, VRT is already good enough to turn spoken words into polished text. Ironically, text-messaging arose from research intended to help the hard of hearing use telephones. In just 25 years, we have come full circle.

On a grander scale, we are close to turning another full circle. Since Homer's poetry was first transcribed, the spoken and written languages have drifted apart. Now they seem set to merge again, bringing the age of the written word to a close.

In case you were wondering, the title of this piece is "My 2 cents on text messages," and the opening conversation goes something like:

• Are you free to talk? I've got a question for you. Did you get my message?
• I don't know.
• Stop texting and drive!