Thorns in My Side-Part 1

Its February 14. Over here this date represents the most commercialized day in the English calender. I am of course referring to Valentine's day. This is a day with absolutely no purpose, other then another reason for candy and flower shops to jack up the prices and call it a sale. Its not even a holiday for christsake. If you need to wait for a special day of the year to buy chocolates for your loved one, chances are, you don't deserve him/her.

I did not enjoy myself today. Firstly, it was the coldest day I ever experienced since i arrived here. the snow was ridiculously thick. And it was windy. And it was wet. I came home having caught pneumonia. Actually, it was a sort of cancerous leprosy and bird flu, with a light dusting of the Ebola virus. If I had went to a laboratory that day, scientists would have agreed I was the sickest man to have not died yet.

Nevertheless, I had to go to school. I had to see this act of modern-day capitalism in motion. So, I went out into the arctic wind, with my sticky out nipples, walking from the outdoor parking lot to the school building. the snow itself is evidence that global warming is stuff of fiction, and should not be believed. Climate change, my bottom.

But there is something worse then Valentines day. Its the curse of modern day communication. Of course, I'm talking about text messaging. More to the point, the language used in modern day Instant Messaging. not only that, it being used in chat rooms the world over. How is it that the word "today" has the number 2 in it. Or the word "great", has an 8?

Txt Spk is on my list of "The Most Hateful Things in Modern Society". The problem is this teenage language is being carried on into the written language. Despite numerous campaigns launched against the use of txt spk, over a hundred thousand SMSs is sent everyday around the world.

That means this language is here to stay. That means, our English language will continue to be raped in this way. And that means, I will continue to see in chat windows, "2day I wnt 2 c doc who sd my bld prssur ws gr8".

Please don't use text speak. Please write as the dictionary says we should. Unlike what the teenage population has led us to believe, proper English has not become overr8ed.