Cyber Slangs: A Craze That Has Changed The Texture of English

Cyber Slangs: A Craze That Has Changed The Texture of English

In the past decade, the use of social media applications has amplified tenfold, thanks to the availability of smart phones and attractive offers by telecom companies. For many youngsters of today’s generation, introduction to internet starts with texting and posting. Internet language, which is designed to be used easily without concerning grammar, consists of a combination of shortcuts, alternative words or even symbols to convey thoughts in an electronic document, popularly known as “Cyber Slangs”.

With the rise of social media apps like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram besides messenger apps like Whatsapp, cyber slangs have also easily attained the zenith of popularity. Initially originated to save keystrokes or compensate for small character limit, these shortcuts and slangs are now part of the texting protocol.

Picture Courtesy: MakeUseOf

The way people communicate in social media these days has clearly pushed the boundaries of formal English and has even started reflecting in classrooms and answer sheets. To the bewilderment of high school teachers, terms like ‘BFF’, ‘wanna’ and ‘IDK’ are discovered on assignments and essays. Most often teachers ignore it but at times, even they are unsure how to handle the problem.

However, Mehek Bassi, Author of ‘Chained, The Book’ has a different take to this trend. “Yes it affects our English, but we still can’t say it is harmful, may be it leads to an evolution in literature, To support her view, Bassi adds, “Back in the Shakespearean era when the use of thee, thy and thou was popular, there came an evolution with what we now call the modern English. So may be the internet slang language is the new era of modern English.”

Picture Courtesy: Good Housekeeping

Nirajana Das, research scholar of Utkal University begs to differ though. “Young fellows advocate it as an evolution of English language but it is simply dumping down of culture and whimper of language lovers. Writing a multi-page paper with formal English is a monumental task for our next generation whose thumbs will be only using abbreviated messages,” she says with concern.

All said and done, teens and students find these cyber slangs a ‘fun, easy, cool and smart’ way to express their thoughts.

However, at the same time, using shortcuts and slangs on social media does affect the grammar skills of students. “Often, I miss the symbols while writing with pen and paper,” comments Subhechha Mohapatra, a high school girl. In fact, many a times, the students do not even recognise the grammatical errors they commit.  “You’ll notice all the difference in their answer sheets,” says Dr. P.K. Sahoo, HOD (English) of Narasinghpur College. “Many a times we find r8, n, r and u instead of right/write, and, are and you as well as the absence of capitalisation of certain words and use of punctuations. Students spend so much time using the informal English that it gets hardwired in their sub-conscious mind,” adds Dr. Sahoo.

Picture Courtesy: Sixth Tone

Language itself changes slowly, but the internet has sped up the process so that new words are formed and accepted within weeks. While parents express their anxiety, students enjoy the advantage of cyber slangs and academics remain uncertain whether to accept these changes or not. But there is no denying the fact that the culture of cyber slangs has brought out an avalanche of changes in the structure of English language.

Matt Galligan, co-founder of Circa, has rightly said “In my opinion, the future of mobile is the future of everything.”

Feature & Banner Image Courtesy: Supportive Guru