Who Will Rescue Written Communication From a Slow, Painful Death?

As a writer and English teacher, I find myself frequently worried that the standards of written communication have become a tad more “relaxed” over the years.  It seems like lately I’ve been receiving—from educated, English-speaking adults, no less– more and more e-mails like this:

“American idol tonite! Who r u rooting 4 let me know!”

Many people worry excessively about looking stupid in front of other people; why is it more folks don’t worry about looking stupid on paper?

Call me stodgy and old-fashioned, but yes, I’m worried.  Perplexed, even.  Are we really so busy that we can’t even write out short words like “are,” “you,” and “for”?  Are people so eager to get their thoughts across that they forget to punctuate sentences?  Do they not have even FIVE SECONDS to glance back over and proofread a line of writing before sending it my way?

This wouldn’t be such a problem if we could at least keep the laid-back vernacular out of the school and workplace.  Sadly, for every e-mail or text message I see that contains “u” as a word, at least one student is going to attempt to use “u” in a paper. The scary part in not that the “u” shows up, but that the author of said “u” will argue that such writing is totally acceptable.  The scariest part of all is that, based on popular opinion, that student may be right.

As the standards of written communication lie in the death-grip of laziness, it’s clear that someone must try to pry those slovenly fingers apart. In this blog, I plan to call out common writing snafus and offer helpful tips where ever possible.

I’m not asking that people write like experts.

I’m only asking that grown ups write like grown ups.