Friday, November 10, 2006

Kiwi Kids to use sms lingo in Exams

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority has announced that 'txt speak' will now be acceptable language to use in state exams. Obvioulsy this has spurred furious outroar from academics and teachers alike even in light of the Authority's continued discouragement of the use of such language. I worry that we are witnessing the next evolution in the use of English, and it is not to its benefit. Will we witness a snowball effect as other states follow New Zealands example and what will be the fate of spelling and grammar if this is to seep into published word?

1 comment:

Bock the Robber said...

What indeed will the fate of spelling be? Not to mention vocabulary.

It's actually much more serious than people realise, because we use language to form our thoughts, and if our language is blunted, so is our capacity to reason.

Which is why we have so many dim-bulb fifty-word skobes whose idea of a witty reply is "fuck off, you're only a fuckin muppet!"