When sms kills language

Do you understand

‘SUP’

‘C-P’

Have you ever read your teenagers sms? Don’t bother, even if you read you won’t be able to understand a word. “Short messaging service” has shortened the words to an extreme. Now these short words have entered even our daily life and the beauty of English language is getting lost.

My teenager greets me with “sup”, which is a short word for “what’s up” and these days what’s up doesn’t mean what is above you or above something – it means “how do you do”. The younger generation has shortened the words to such an extreme that even their talk and formal write-up’s are in short form, which not only kills the beauty of the language but is also against the netiquettes of formal writing.

When we were growing up, our elders used to stress on the need to read, in order to improve vocabulary and language skills. The present generation reads a lot because they have access to more books and reading material, available online & on Kindle which is comfortable and easy to buy. Then why are the younger generation losing touch with their language etiquette and skills? Because they use sms to an extent where it has become ingrained in memory and the brain doesn't acknowledge the difference when they are using language in any other form. So it is important to encourage the Gen-Y to use proper language skills.

By Pushpa Ramesh