(KYTX) - Today's young people use bad grammar and abbreviations for practical reasons.
When you're trying to get a message across quickly, it's the easiest way. But, if you want to communicate in the professional world bad grammar has g-2-g, got to go.
When you live in a texting, facebooking, tweeting world you have to keep it short.
"I don't even put periods, question marks or anything. I just type it and go," said Kaylee McPherson.
Kaylee McPherson and her friends use abbreviations.
"Soups Awk...meaning super awkward," said McPherson.
The short sentences and spelling they use would probably make any English teacher cringe.
"Now, they actually start talking it. I hear people talking and I'm like you kind of sound dumb."
They're not only using it to talk with friends. They're trying to use it in the classroom, too.
"Ok, this is one I see a lot. B4=before, OMG=oh my, u=you, y=why," said Melanie McNeil.
Lindale English teacher Melanie McNeil sees the lingo in her students essays.
"You have to translate before you can even read the writing sometimes," added McNeil.
Her students don't get credit for their social media errors. What they do get is a lesson in the value of the English language.
"When we do essays, we talk about the difference between casual language and academic language and when it's appropriate."
Mrs. McNeil said she understands the times are changing. She agrees there is a place in the world for web lingo, just not in her classroom.
"I hate to see kids miss out on that gift of the written language, because there is a real value to crafting words," said McNeil.
The Oxford English Dictionary has added words like "LOL" "OMG" "Tweet" "Retweet" even "Sext".
"At first, when I got here. I had to ask all the time," said Francois Vandenbosche.
Francois Vandenbosche is a foreign exchange student from Belgium. He's even picked up on the American social lingo.
"I even use those abbreviations right now to text in English," said Francois.
If you think you're the only one growing tired of this cyber-speak, you're not.
"It's like no one knows how to write a complete sentence. Like an actual complete sentence," said Kaylee.
Mrs. McNeil says it's a problem that needs to be addressed if the young people of today want to be taken seriously in the future.
"You're going to have to write a report sometimes or sometimes you're going to have to write a letter to your boss explaining why you might need a raise. You know there's going to be some value to communicating effectively," said McNeil.
There's a time and place for the lingo. But, sometimes you have to ditch the clever acronyms and bad writing and get back to the basics of English.
"A lot of people don't even know how to write anymore. They really don't," added Kaylee.
"When we're well read. We're well written and well spoken," said McNeil.
Ontario's Waterloo University is one of the few post-secondary institutions in Canada to require the students they accept to pass an exam testing their English language skills.
Almost a third of those students are failing and they're blaming social media for it.
