Does Internet Chatting Really Affect Long-term Grammatical Abilities?

MBFF (my best friend forever) XerORadSpEllR don't agree that R abeletees R effected 1 iota. We M4C (met for coffee) TOD (the other day) and red from a paper with newz that some writer person wrote. They say our speling and reading righting abilitys will be effected in the long-term! WUWT???? (what's up with that).

TMK (to my knowledge), I think TPS! (that's pretty stupid). Personal, I thinks they R jus jealous, YKWIM ? (you know what I mean). Jus cuz I have over 1 thou peeps and friends on my Myspace! My top 12 rox and I I wonder how many articles were written on CB Language? ISTR (I seem to remember) that was it's own jargon, aint that right Good Buddy? Can I get a big 10-4 (agreement) on that one if you're not to busy dealing with that Seat Cover (rider or passenger of the opposite sex) or Smokey (policeman) at your Back door (on the road behind you)? Did I mention that Sittin' in the Rocking Chair (in between two other CBers) was the best 10-20 (location and/or position)? Am I gettin' out (does anyone hear me)? I'll go 10-7 (shutting down) on that for now and get back on the real issue... Gwammer. (grammer)

IMO (in my opinion) AIM (aol instant messanger) has benn instrumental in my socialization skillz. They say my chattin with overseaers can affect they way thay speak too! IBTD (I beg to differ).

LOL. Chatting is indeed informal and the use of acronyms is growing on a daily basis. It is a code used to participate in online chatting as fast as possible to have others participate in the dialect. Indeed it is another language of sort, but after researching, I find that it is better described as internet Jargon.

The American Heritage Dictionary describes jargon (jär'gən) n. as 1) Nonsensical, incoherent, or meaningless talk. 2) A hybrid language or dialect; a pidgin. 3) The specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group. Speech or writing having unusual or pretentious vocabulary, convoluted phrasing, and vague meaning.

The Online Etymology Dictionary describes jargon as "unintelligible talk, gibberish," from O.Fr. jargon "a chattering" (of birds), ultimately of echoic origin (cf. L. garrire "to chatter," Eng. gargle). Often applied to something the speaker does not understand, hence meaning "mode of speech full of unfamiliar terms" (1651).

With these noted citations, you can conclude that indeed the chat language today is not best described as language, rather as internet jargon that if unknown can be very incoherent, meaningless, unintelligible talk, gibberish and most definitly mode of speech full of unfamilliar terms. Therefore, I believe it affects our jargon ability and not so much our language skills. Language skills are tested during person-to-person conversations.

A large motivation for the evolution and creation of what is referred to as "Netspeak" was to defeat IRC parsers that go through large amounts of logged IRC text searching for keywords. Everyone from the FBI to other hackers were constantly trying to monitor them, steal their secrets, or whatever hidden agenda they had. Introducing symbols, random capitalizations, and numbers into words was viewed as a way to defeat these individuals.

This new language, or jargon, was a way for social semi-outcasts to identify with each other and became the secret handshake of the new millenia. If one could not associate the acronyms to the conversation, they were the outcasts (or invaders). So now we have matured from the pig latin days to 1337-speak. So now I ask myself, have I become a part of the new 4th world nation? I have caught myself many times when writing a formal letter using the three dot pause..., the LOL (laugh out loud), a smiley face here and there :o) and the symbol for love In conclusion, If you were able to understand the 1st two to three paragraphs, then your jargon skills are honed and you may now step into the world of Text Messaging and Internet Chatting. Otherwise, you may join me in having to look each and every one of them up to understand them and then ask yourself "why did I even bother?"