Teenagers and even some adults have created a new 21st Century language of their own â€" SMS, to the detriment of English grammar.
The process of spelling words for a friend via cellphone is in itself quite annoying. Of course, for the cellphone, one has to consider the small screen, the number of repetitions when punching in each letter and in general, the need to make the message short and concise.
Limited characters on the cellphone when messaging, or "tweeting", have exponentially fuelled the trend to shorten words in a bid to save the agony of having to spell out every single word.
This trend has slowly infiltrated high-school classrooms and universities and has even spread to everyone who owns a cellphone or similar communication devices.
For instance: "IYO TXT ng
≈ Gd 4 or NME of GMR" will mean: "In your opinion, is texting good for or the enemy of grammar."
Bradley Izaks, the Head of Department of Languages at Concordia High School mentions that technology is improving and there is probably no way to stop it.
"Learners must be made aware of this situation from junior grades and in all schools they should follow the government cellphone rule.
"It is very disturbing because in essays, learners are so used to texting each other on the phone, they inadvertently put in "Coz/ Cuz (for because), 1ne (one)", which is highly unacceptable," he said.
Professor Jairos Kangira, Head of Department of Languages and Literature Studies at the University of Namibia (Unam) concurs that the culture is slowly corrupting the English language.
"It's true that short forms of SMS have impacted negatively on spelling and the way students construct their sentences. In other words, what they are doing is now spelling words using these short forms and using informal words and informal structures which they get from the social media, especially Facebook or SMS.
"In most cases, they forget that they are writing an academic paper or academic essay and they resort to...