Hey, I use emotes all the time, but I stray as far away from internet slang as I can.

I still don't know what half of the abbreviations means. I didn't know what 'LMAO' meant until a little while ago. 'WTF' is sometimes used in my real-life speech, but that's only to prevent swearing, and to screw with my friends' heads. ;]

I'm so behind with internet slang that when someone said 'FTW' I though that it had to do with forwarding something (an email came to mind) to someone. Or that the 'W' stood for 'wizards'. *slapped*

I think since most people seem to agree here, that we here at theOtaku should start a movement to use only correct grammar/spelling (when we know it, that is) instead of internet speak when conversing with others. Or at least, not in the real-world. You know, I think I'm going to shut up. It's too late. I have no idea what I'm typing anymore.

But the whole 'OMG!' thing REALLY bothers me. :B

There's nothing wrong with typing out words in chats or other internet stuff... Heck, I remember that's how I learned to type fast. Besides abbreviations can sometimes be hard to read. Some are acceptable, though...

But to write it in a school paper? They should be pistol-whipped or something...

I have been using more internet "slang" lately, thanks to some of my internet friends. It's still much more convenient to type everything out though. That's how I learned to type, and that's how I prefer it.

You'd have to be a complete moron to actually use emoticons or lol's and omg's in something like an English paper. Doodles and all are probably fine, but... ugh. It makes me want to shake my head.
Then again, it's not too surprising, which is almost the saddest thing about this piece of news.

Maybe online, but in school? lol Not a chance in hell.

~Crystia

I never ever ever use internet slang, even on the i-nets. I am known to write little emoticons on my English quizzes though, but they're so unimportant that they don't matter [and they're meant for my friend who I swap with, so yeah].

I like Timber, put emotes on my homework too...but with the things I cant figure out I either put "I dont know", or just something that will make the teacher laugh, but I just draw the emotes all over my homework when the teacher is talking about how to do the math and I already have it done. XD

I think its easier to use all the letters but to use "hey wat u duin 2 night" It takes too long for me to find all the keys, like it cuts my typing time in half. :(

XD

The Macomb Daily? I get that too. Interesting....

I hope teachers are marking down papers hard for this. Using excessive chat slang is annoying enough online but anyone filling school papers with it deserves a sack beating.

I can't understand why the carrying over of text-lingo into other pieces is so wide-spread.

Seems more like a desire to fit in than anything else. ^_^ Though for the most part I think spelling things out fully is better. It makes it easier for others to know what you are really saying.

-Sabrina

I don't use it, at least not very much, plus... I am a teacher so any college student stupid enough to use chat-speak in a paper deserves to have their grade docked. :p

-Darren

I don't really use it all that much. I'm too use to being required to spell things out clearly. :p I can and do use it for fun a bit, but for the most part... I do not. Can't help it, I've had enough jobs where not spelling things out created more confusion than it was worth. XP

As for school... by the time it became an issue... I had already graduated from college. Because the Internet was not the norm when I was in High School and only just becoming more popular when I was in college. :p

@TimeChaser:

I have no degree in English [and yes I'm sure only being 15 plays into that] but at the same time it seems silly to abbreviate things when there are so many variations of how one can do so. So I too prefer to clearly spell things out and save the Internet speech for rare times when I too am being silly.

I don't mind a little, but when I see a lot of it... I feel the urge to bang my head on my desk and reach through the screen and go *smack* to the offender. Real speech now please! Thank you very much! XP I may be terrible at grammar and spelling but no excessive chat-speak or whatever the hell you call it! :p

~*Aaryanna*~

As the owner of a degree in English, it does pain me when I hear about the downward trend in writing standards. I rarely use internet abbreviations - only when I'm feeling silly and use them intentionally as part of a joke - and when talking to people online I still type in complete sentences. I wouldn't know how to communicate my scrambled thoughts any other way =P