The essence of good expression is effective communication.
If one can exchange ideas efficiently with non-standard spelling and grammar, that’s fine.
But the reason we learnt the conventions of spelling and grammar in school was not “rules for the sake of rules†but to make it easier for us to communicate with each other.
Really good summary right there, before I add my own two cents.
First, why do I say "two cents" rather than "two pennies", given I am British, am I "talking down" to the Americans? I hope not.
In Internet chat, I generally use English, interspersed with standard abbreviations. This is because text language in its purest form is illegible to at least 50% of the population. That said, I'll slip into whatever convention applies - and that is irrespective of whether online or in real life. The only one in text that really sticks out for me is, like Shane said, capitals. I have, once or twice unintentionally "shouted" at someone over the Internet, having first used Caps Lock to punctuate a proper noun or something and then forgot it was on. I have then had to apologise and explain I wasn't shouting, because the rule is that
writing all in Capitals is shouting.
Like I said, there is, for me, a direct correlation between how I act normally and how I type. To illustrate what I mean I'll give some examples from different scenarios. Take as a starting point that I am a Scottish born Brit.
1. I noticed this with my last girlfriend. Her family spoke plain English. Around them, that was what I spoke. If I were to return home, my dialect would instantly shift into the way I speak with my family, who speak a mixture of English and Doric dialect. My girlfriend and her family would have been able to understand us, because they are Scottish and have been exposed to the dialect, but in their house I spoke English all the same. I wasn't talking down to them by coming out of my normal conventions; just being polite. Just like going on holiday and visiting Quebec - we spoke as much French as we could, which admittedly wasn't much, but at least we tried. We had a good laugh with one of the bus drivers because he kept asking us to speak to him in Doric, and he
kidnae mak oot fit wi wirr spikkin aboot (phonetic spelling). Here's a video example from the excellent
Outnumbered:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2sovaAAoeY2. Certain circles. Here, I am talking about jargon. I mean, what would you be supposed to think if you walked past me with some of my select friends and I was saying: "So she kissed it, but I caught her out with a strip-squeeze and she had to bare her ace"? - All perfectly innocent, but taken out of context... It actually refers to a card game, which I teach - where I need to be a bit careful, because obviously the learners aren't so immersed. It is well known that a teacher might say "Put your hand on the table", and the student puts their 4 fingers and 1 thumb down on the table, which isn't actually what we meant them to do.
So, speaking in English (or whatever language) in IMs etc is, as far as I am concerned, normal and not talking down to someone. It generally depends on how long I've known them in an online sense; are they likely to know what the language means etc - just like I have to ask myself if it is appropriate to speak Doric in England. Genrally, if the person that is apparently being patronised thinks anything is weird about what the person is typing, they'll probably just tell them they can abbreviate rather than typing it all out.
Tyman also makes a good point - I'm very likely to abbreviate in text, because I only get so many characters per text and I don't want to pay for two. This of course being the very reason text language began in the first place.
My friend texted me asking: "What does idk mean?", so I told her: "I don't know." She texted back saying "Omg no-one knows!!"
