Sign In Subscribe

SOCIETY

Is Texting Killing the English Language? Expat Health

People have always spoken differently from how they write, and texting is actually talking with Insurance
your fingers
Free Quotes Instantly Online
By John McWhorter April 25, 2013
Save Now on Best Cover for
Like 8.1K Tweet Share 178 Read Later Expats

Texting has long been bemoaned as the downfall of

the written word, penmanship for illiterates, as one nowcompare.com/Expats
critic called it. To which the proper response is LOL.
Texting properly isnt writing at all its actually
more akin to spoken language. And its a spoken POPULAR AMONG SUBSCRIBERS SUBSCRIBE

language that is getting richer and more complex by

the year. Japan's Booming Sex Niche:
Elder Porn
First, some historical perspective. Writing was only
invented 5,500 years ago, whereas language
probably traces back at least 80,000 years. Thus
talking came first; writing is just an artifice that Getty Images Young Kids, Old Bodies
came along later. As such, the first writing was based
on the way people talk, with short sentences think of the Old Testament.
However, while talk is largely subconscious and rapid, writing is deliberate Email Print
and slow. Over time, writers took advantage of this and started crafting Share
tapeworm sentences such as this one, from The Decline and Fall of the Roman Benedict Cumberbatch Talks
Secrets, Leaks, and Sherlock
Empire: The whole engagement lasted above 12 hours, till the gradual retreat Follow @TIMEIdeas
of the Persians was changed into a disorderly flight, of which the shameful
example was given by the principal leaders and the Surenas himself.

(MORE: Why Americans Need Spelling Bees and Vocabulary Tests) Obama's Trauma Team

No one talks like that casually or should. But it is natural to desire to do so for special occasions, and thats what
oratory is, like the grand-old kinds of speeches that William Jennings Bryan delivered. In the old days, we didnt
much write like talking because there was no mechanism to reproduce the speed of conversation. But texting and
Get all access to digital and print SUBSCRIBE
instant messaging do and a revolution has begun. It involves the brute mechanics of writing, but in its economy,
spontaneity and even vulgarity, texting is actually a new kind of talking. There is a virtual cult of concision and little
interest in capitalization or punctuation. The argument that texting is poor writing is analogous, then, to one that Most Popular
the Rolling Stones is bad music because it doesnt use violas. Texting is developing its own kind of grammar and FROM IDEAS
conventions.

1 Whos Biggest? The 100 Most Significant Figures in

(MORE: Banning the Term Illegal Immigrant Wont Change the Stigma) History

Texting is developing its own kind of grammar. Take LOL. It doesnt actually mean laughing out loud in a literal 2 The Tyranny of the Sexy Mom
sense anymore. LOL has evolved into something much subtler and sophisticated and is used even when nothing is
remotely amusing. Jocelyn texts Where have you been? and Annabelle texts back LOL at the library studying for 3 Was Sex With Children Ever O.K.?
two hours. LOL signals basic empathy between texters, easing tension and creating a sense of equality. Instead of
having a literal meaning, it does something conveying an attitude just like the -ed ending conveys past tense 4 Girls on Film: How Innocent Pictures Feed the
rather than meaning anything. LOL, of all things, is grammar. Internet Porn Machine

Of course no one thinks about that consciously. But then most of communication operates below the radar. Over 5 Singing Changes Your Brain

time, the meaning of a word or an expression drifts meat used to mean any kind of food, silly used to mean,
believe it or not, blessed. FROM TIME.COM

Civilization, then, is fine people banging away on their smartphones are fluently using a code separate from the
1 Russian Forces Double Along Ukraine Border
one they use in actual writing, and there is no evidence that texting is ruining composition skills. Worldwide people
speak differently from the way they write, and texting quick, casual and only intended to be read once is
actually a way of talking with your fingers. 2 Gangs of Powerfully Built Women Are Mugging
Tourists on the Streets of Hong Kong

All indications are that Americas youth are doing it quite well. Texting, far from being a scourge, is a work in
progress. 3 Putin Phones Obama To Discuss Ukraine, White
House Says

This essay is adapted from McWhorters talk at TED 2013.

4 Colbert Tweet Draws Accusations of Racism and
#CancelColbert
MORE: Why Do We Love to Invent Languages?

5 Theres A Scientific Reason for Why You Look Weird

In Selfies
John McWhorter is
John McWhorter
the author of
John McWhorter is an associate professor of English and several books,
including What
comparative literature at Columbia University and the author of What
CONNECT WITH TIME
Language Is (and
Language Is (and What It Isn't and What It Could Be). The views What It Isn't and
expressed are solely his own. What It Could Be).
Follow @TIME 14.8M followers Like 12M

TIME

Follow

Sponsored Stories Sponsored Links by

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR View More

Providing an Incentive to Reduce Carbon

Here Are the Best Anti- Este es el reloj que est Meet Blinkist, The Learning Learn to Understand Emissions
Aging Wrinkle Creams on arrasando en internet App That All The CEOs Spoken Spanish in Minutes October 22, 2013
The Internet gracias a su Love With This Little It wont be easy to pay for reducing greenhouse gas emissions when we
Check.In macronetech Blinkist Magazine onemonthspanish wont be the primary beneficiaries

The NSA Has Changed the American Way of

Life
August 18, 2013
Its clear that a reasonable person will not expect very much privacy
regarding personal information in the future

Childless By Choice: Its Not Always Family v.

Trying to Lose Weight?
Here is Our Pick for Best
Weight Loss
Topdust
The Incredible The Listings of the Week: A Watch How He "Regrow"
Career
Transformation of Macaulay British Castle Dating to the His Hair Naturally in 14
August 15, 2013
Culkin [Gallery] Middle Days! Try Tonight
OMG! Mansion Global healthnewstips.today Quite a number of women know better than to take parental
responsibilities theyre not up to.

Send us your letters

Send a letter to the editor here. These letters may

be edited and posted on TIME Ideas.

Note: The views expressed on TIME Ideas are

solely those of the authors.

2017 Time Inc. All rights reserved.