The shorthand that has developed along with instant messaging, SMS text messaging, and chat is the worst thing to happen to spelling since Prince started composing music. "Your" has become "UR," "see you later" has become "CU L8R," and the list goes on and on. Every time I think I have learned it all my 14 year old daughter introduces me to a new term.

The scary thing about it for me is as a recent college graduate, I have had to do numerous group projects with members of the younger set over the last several years. One of the deliverables has usually been a term paper in which everyone in the group makes a contribution toward. I often volunteered to proof read and compose the final draft and often I have been appalled that Juniors and Seniors at the university level would not know any better than to use this chat shorthand into their portion of the paper rather than the king's English!

Don't get me wrong; I have embraced instant messaging, chat, and sometimes the chat shorthand but there is a place for it to be used and a place where it shouldn't be used.

Cheers,
Bill