"L33T" Speak Invades Schools

Masem writes "NYTimes reports on how common chat room/IM shortcuts (such as 'u' for you, 'r' for are, etc) are creeping into the classroom and homework assignments from those teenage kids that spend a significant amount of time in chat programs. This is giving the teachers headaches in trying to grade the assignments, much less understand them because of the techno-generation gap, and to try to prevent further abuse of the language, have begun penalizing students for using the net slang. Students sometimes don't even realize they use the chat room shorthand until it's pointed out to them, because that method of chatting has become second nature to them."

Comments

It's not just in schools

[floppy ears]

I work for a hedge fund, and I regularly get emails from a Managing Director that say things like "r u sure we should do that". No punctuation, no caps.

A Note From Your Son's Teacher

[th3walrus]

D33r MrZ. butts3x0r
U g0tz a k1d d4t 41n7 d01n h1z w3rK r1t3, b1zn0tch! h3 k33p t4lk1n L1k3 h3 41n7 g0tZ n0 c3ntz! WTF? U = p3n1s 1n U aZZ!

sux0rz 2BU! h0p3 y3r br4t g3tz h1z NUTZ ch0ppa 0ff!

-Mr. Demarcus
History Department

Re:A Note From Your Son's Teacher

[unicron]

I keep flunking cs class for submitting homework like this:

#!/usr/bin/perl
@P=split//,".URRUUxR";@d=split/ /,"\n!oy ,kcaw eb ssalc sihT";sub
p{@p{"r$p","u$p"}=(P,P
);pipe"r$p","u$p";$p++;( $q*=2)+=$f=!fork;map{$P=$P [$f|6&ord$p{$_}];$p{$_}=/$P/i?
$P:close$_}%p}p;p; p;p;p;map$p{$_}=~/[P.]/&&close$_ ,%p;wait
until$?;map/r/&&, %p;print$d[$q]

Bart Simpson

[Hard_Code]

chalkboard:

LOL is not a word
LOL is not a word
LOL is not a word
LOL is not a word
LOL is not a word
LOL is not a word ...

Break out the yard sticks

[RQuinn]

If there was ever a reason for corporal punishment in schools, 1337 speak would be it.

Could someone post the article here?

[PunchMonkey]

Could someone please post the article here on Slashdot? I keep trying to read it on the NY Times website, but my eyes are continually drawn towards "Eve Brecker". And she's WHAT??? Only 15!?!??! Oh lord.....

Re:Could someone post the article here?

[Mr Guy]

I'd just like to rewrite the caption under her picture. I mean really, which captures the spirit of the peice more:

INGRAINED - Eve Brecker, 15, of Montclair, N.J., uses instant-messaging shorthand unconsciously in essays.

Or my version:

STUPID - Eve Brecker, 15, of Montclair, N.J., is a fucking idiot. Although she chats to strange men late at night, she can't be bothered to remember to use spell check.

But what will the /actual/ 1337 speakers do?

[Denor]

You know, the ones who play FPSes and are constantly yelling at each other! If they're going to stay 1337, they need to keep talking differently than others. One day, I'm going to log onto a quake server and see this:

EliteFellow: Ah-ha! My aiming skills are unmatched. I have such prowess it is as though I own you.

TricksterMan: Not so! Network latency has inhibited my natural reflexes!

EliteFellow: You deserved your comeuppance, you have been jealously guarding the Quadruple Damage for some time now without moving elsewhere!

I think that would scare me more than leetspeak, really.

Re:But what will the /actual/ 1337 speakers do?

[Anonymous Coward]

At least do it right:

Lanthorn: Fear and cower before my peerless accuracy, and precision, betwixt which you fell, a corpse, at my feet.

Nest: Ai! The decided lack of random access memory on this server acts like a fetter upon my facile grace. Niether you nor your comrades-in-arms, shall besmirch my gleaming armor with foul bullets this time.

Lanthorn: Cur! It is not your place to foul the air with your odious exhalations. You were poised stationary over the Quadruple Damage item, as poacher who uses bait lurks in the blind. I however on manuveur outflanked you and dispensed a rocket into your postierior.

Re:Good for teachers

[sql*kitten]

School assignments should be written in grammatically correct English, using proper spelling.

So should Slashdot editorials, but how likely is that?

Dangers of "chat" speak

[akgoel]

One of my kids from summer camp was IM'ing me and was using these alternate spellings. The problem was the alternate spelling of "come" :

"will u cum to camp next year?"

"please cum"

Some things should be fixed before they go too far.

My MUD speak has invaded my chatrooms

[dlur]

I haven't had much of a problem as of yet with elite haX0r speak invading my real world, but I have had a problem with constantly typing 'look' and enter or 'score' and enter or 'inv' and enter while on ICQ or IRC. I guess playing time on Sojourn3 is catching up with me again.

Oh well,
who sort
I guess that's what we get for living online these days.
l
sc

Re:Good for teachers

[AnalogBoy]

Lets see..

0ur F47h3r, wH0 4r7 n h34V3n, h4110w3d b3 7HY n4m3, 7hy k1ngd0m c0m3, 7hy wI11 b d0n3, 0N 34r7h 4s i7 iS iN h34v3n. G1v3 u5 th15 d4y 0ur d4i1y br34d, & f0rg1v3 u5 0ur tr35p45535, 4s w3 f0rg1v3 7h05e wh0 tr35p455 4g41n5t u5.

Granted, im not even remotely versed in lamespeek.. but thats about how it would look.

translation into proper english

[Dr. Awktagon]

D33r MrZ. butts3x0r

Dear Mrs. Endlove,

U g0tz a k1d d4t 41n7 d01n h1z w3rK r1t3, b1zn0tch!

Your son is not completing his assignment correctly, ma'am.

h3 k33p t4lk1n L1k3 h3 41n7 g0tZ n0 c3ntz!

His manner of writing indicates a lack of formative education.

WTF?

I wonder why this might be the case?

U = p3n1s 1n U aZZ!

My experience tells me this is usually the result of poor parenting. For instance, a child's mother may spend more time with her husband or boyfriend than with her child, robbing him of important life lessons.

sux0rz 2BU!

The results of a bad upbringing reflect negatively on the responsible parent.

h0p3 y3r br4t g3tz h1z NUTZ ch0ppa 0ff!

Your son may find it difficult to complete his assignments at school, and may experience ridicule from his peers.

Re:Good for teachers

[Tackhead]

> 0ur F47h3r, wH0 4r7 n h34V3n, h4110w3d b3 7HY n4m3, 7hy k1ngd0m c0m3, 7hy wI11 b d0n3, 0N 34r7h 4s i7 iS iN h34v3n. G1v3 u5 th15 d4y 0ur d4i1y br34d, & f0rg1v3 u5 0ur tr35p45535, 4s w3 f0rg1v3 7h05e wh0 tr35p455 4g41n5t u5.

Well, that's just a character-substitution. To really translate the language, you'd need to update the older idioms.

(For instance, see how 1384's language "And foryeue to us oure dettis at is oure synnys as we foryeuen to oure dettouris at is to men at han synned in us" - which my layman's re-reading works like this: "And forgive (to) us our debt that is our sins, as we forgive (to) our debtors that is to men that have sinned in (against) us" - states explicitly the theological notion that sin is debt, whereas this notion had become implicit by 1611's wording.)

So - The Lord's Prayer, theology mostly intact, but rendered in 2002 'leetspeak:

Our Father, who 0wnz heaven, j00 r0ck! May all 0ur base someday be belong to you! May j00 0wn earth just like j00 0wn heaven. Give us this day our warez, mp3z, and pr0n through a phat pipe. And cut us some slack when we act like n00b lamerz, just as we teach n00bz when they act lame on us. Please don't give us root access on some poor d00d'z box when we're too pissed off to think about what's right and wrong, and if you could keep the f3i off our backs, we'd appreciate it. For j00 0wn r00t on all our b0x3n 4ever and ever, 4m3n.

Plus character substitution:

[edunbar93]

0wr F4th3R, wh0 0wnz h34\/3n, j00 r0x0rs! M4y 4|| 0wr b4s3 s0m3d4y Bl0ng t0 j00! M4y j00 0wn 34rth juss |1|3 j00 0wn h34\/3n. G1v3 us th1s d4y 0wr w4r3z, mp3z, 'n pr0n thr0ugh a ph4t |. 4nd cut us s0m3 sl4ck wh3n w3 4ct lik3 n00b l4m3rz, juss 4s w3 g1v3 n00bz 4 l34rn1n wh3n th3y l4m3 2 us. Pl34s3 d0n't l3t us 0wn s0m3 p00r d00d'z b0x3n wh3n w3'r3 t00 p1ss3d t0 th1nk 4b0ut wh4t's r1ght 4nd wr0ng, 4nd 1f j00 c0uld k33p th3 f3i 0ff 0wr b4ckz, w3'd 'pr3c14t3 1t. F0r j00 0wn 4ll 0wr b0x3n 43v3r 4nd 3v3r, 4m3n!

Now if that's not as incomprehensible as old English, I don't know what is. :)