by Sandra Gillhouse

Created on: May 07, 2010   Last Updated: May 08, 2010

Texting is here to stay, like it or not. As to whether it could destroy such a complex language I seriously doubt as much. However as a fiction novel writer I’ve come to realize there is nothing written in the writers rulebooks about proper TM style.Which brings me to my question; If E.B. White, the grand master of correct writing style, was alive today, how would he respond to the growing trend for texting?

Being as he was a proper gentleman writer, I would imagine many of his standard rules would still apply. Rules like, stay in the background and show not tell. For instance a text to your friend might read; lmbo (laughing my butt off) but White would rather it read; roflgdbimc (rolling on floor getting dust bunnies in my crack.)

Of course E.B. was all about brevity too—he didn’t even use his full name for crying out loud—cutting to the chase, if you will, and writing what comes naturally was his main shtick.So what could be more natural than laziness? Isn’t that the core of what texting is all about? Removing vowels and even letters (in some cases) from words and keeping the focus spot on. And another White biggie is the avoidance of adjectives and adverbs in your writing, when a simple noun and verb will work just as well. Now I ask you what fits that ideal better than a text like bibo (beer in beer out?)

Yes I believe he and William Strunk Jr, his accomplice in The Elements of Style, would have been downright giddy to read an entire novel written in TM. It might read something like this.

Bill’s bib he had lft 4 a cb, bitmt Mary Biltmore tried to get  a 121 going with Bill which was a cwot. Nalopkt, but Bill is a momboy. Nbd except that Mary was abt2 ask him on a d8. She must have bawfk the day the ol showed up sfete with pl8 of cookies for her little Bill…

Ok,I feel your pain upon deciphering such dither. I had quite a time myself with my old-schooled brain, but if you want to keep up with the kids you’ll have to do some serious downsizing of your vocabulary. Is this a good thing? Well who knows good or bad, it is different and takes a little bit of skill to regroup your language moniker in order to understand it all. Or more importantly make others understand your writing.Which is the goal of every language.

Maybe TM is just for phones and emails right not, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see compilation instructions, directions to bake and/or even newspaper articles filled with the short cuts soon. We live in a fast paced world where we often need to get our point across quickly and oftentimes in small spaces,so maybe, some thanks are in order to good old E.B. and Will. Finally brevity has found its genius.

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