Textonyms - a new language
2008-02-06 08:18
London - R U cycle? Book! Fancy an
adds down the sub? There's a gr8 new carnage.
It may look like gobbledegook, but the most streetwise of
British teenagers would have no trouble translating and
responding to it in kind.
A new language is being developed by cellphone-addicted
kids based on the predictive text of their treasured handsets.
Key words are replaced by the first alternative that comes
up on a cellphone using predictive text - changing "cool"
into "book", "awake" into "cycle", "beer" into "adds",
"pub" into "sub" and "barmaid" into "carnage".
Those expressing excitement with the old-fashioned text
phrase "woohoo!" now use the far more hip "zonino!" instead.
The replacement words - technically paragrams, but
commonly known as textonyms, adaptonyms or cellodromes - are
becoming part of regular teen banter.
And the older generation - many of whom already struggle
with simple text language - are being thrown into yet deeper
confusion.
According to David Crystal, a language expert at Bangor
University in Wales, the new language is the latest in a long
history of kids' linguistic creations.
"Everybody plays with language," he told Reuters. "Playing
with language isn't new. It's absolutely normal for kids to
experiment like this.
"And it's important to remind adults that they did exactly
the same thing when they were kids, they just didn't do it on
mobile phones."
Some of the most popular textonyms show intriguing links
between originally intended word and the one the predictive
text throws up - "eat" becomes "fat" and "kiss" becomes
"lips", "home" is "good" and the vodka brand "Smirnoff" becomes
"poison".