I'm out just buying soy sauce

[Meng Lelan]

Texting on a mobile phone is probably acceptable, but if you can avoid it (i.e. it's only a short message so you're not running into space limits) then all the better. For me, anything in email, IM, online forums etc, where there are no space restrictions and you have a full keyboard at your disposal, is just sloppy.

It makes me go insane when Chinese people email me in English using "pls" instead of "please". For all those years I spent memorizing every stroke and dot in thousands of characters, they could at least please put the vowels back into the word "please".

[SirDude]

This is funny to read because just about an hour ago I was reading comments about Obama's first year in office and one person wrote their whole, very long, message in texting short-hand. No caps, nothing, they made a point, but it was totally lost in the way they delivered the message.

Today you should not have a reason to use short-hand even when texting, when most cell phones have full key boards / pads. I think it's pure laziness.

I wuold rttar raed smoenoe tpynig lkie tihs! Did you get this? The brain is a wonderful thing to play with.

[Lu]

I see no reason not to use shorthand while texting, many phones have a full keyboard, but most don't, certainly not mine. Also mine doesn't have a Dutch dictionary, which makes typing a pest.

But online? It's ridiculous to use that much text-speak. If people write like that (or in all caps, or without capitals, or without paragraphs) I don't read past the first few lines.

[skylee]

Today you should not have a reason to use short-hand even when texting, when most cell phones have full key boards / pads. I think it's pure laziness.

Often it is not pure laziness. There are cost implications too. Why would I want to send (and pay for) two messages if they can be compressed to one? Some people have cellphone plans that charge nothing or almost nothing for texting. Some people don't. And not everyone is willing to spend more on texting.

[HashiriKata]

And not everyone is willing to spend more on texting.

I agree. I'm happy to pay for texting but not needlessly. In texting, I don't count the penny, but I count the words