Communication and technology have come a long way since the first web chat rooms.

The scrolling chat rooms were similar to the recently-popular “blog” rooms. Then there were instant messenger programs, such as ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger.

Next came the enormous cell phone bills associated with text messaging. Bad grammar, along with these replacements for the home telephone and U.S. Postal Service, has subtly evolved.

Grammar may seem insignificant to some, but when it comes down to it, proper grammar is very important. Consistently forgetting to use punctuation or failing to capitalize the first words of sentences in a term paper will lower your grade. Not capitalizing the name of the company you are applying to for a job–and admitting to the mistake with a “lol”–is not going to cut it either.

Acronyms have become extremely popular with Internet slang. The acronym “lol” stands for “laugh out loud;” “brb” translates to “be right back.” If these are not enough to prove our language deficiency or a certain amount of laziness, “TK2UL8R” for “talk to you later” must.

According to New York University’s Livewire News Service, dictionaries have classified this shorthand language as NetLingo, which was created in 1995 for office talk.

NetLingo does not only involve abbreviations and acronyms. There are plenty of false tenses and dangling prepositions to contend with. I am not afraid to admit that at times in my “chatting” career, I have used my share of cliched acronyms and run-on sentences.

After a while, I began to notice that I would occasionally not punctuate my sentences properly, or neglect to use commas when needed in school work. When this laziness began to spill over into my personal writing, I had to put a stop to it.

NetLingo has caused a significant impact overseas. According to an article written in the Toronto Star by Teh Eng Hock, in Malaysia, text messaging and online chatting have caused college students to misspell simple words consistently. Some teachers write out the NetLingo for their students and then have the students rewrite the words using proper grammar. Some teachers bring transcripts of chat conversations to class and have students pick out the errors.

Before Sacramento State professors resort to elementary language tutorials, I hope to inspire my fellow students to make an effort to reduce the amount of bad grammar they use in their various forms of communication. I know it seems quick and easy just to talk to someone, but when NetLingo seeps into your verbal conversations, it can be alarming.

Sac State English professors do not seem worried that the new messaging systems are going to put a damper on the English language, but they do agree that the language is changing due to some bad habits perpetuated through the use of NetLingo.

“I would say people don’t value the rules about grammar since they hear them being broken all the time by television personalities, as well as seeing them disregarded in these online settings,” said Assistant Professor of English Brad Buchanan. “I think the inappropriate use of slang and the poor punctuation skills are caused by a generalized culture of disdain towards correct English.”

I would have to agree that personalities on television are frequently responsible for this generation’s lack of common sense when using English. Slang terms are abundant and extremely catchy. I mean, when I hear Paris Hilton saying, “That’s hot,” repeatedly, I immediately want to add the phrase to my vocabulary.

Another professor claims that people prefer to idealize the past, thus creating the illusion that language was somehow superior in early ages.

“Something tells me that we, as a culture, like these narratives of decay and fall from a golden age, both to make us feel better about our imagined pasts and to provide ourselves with a sense of nostalgic loss for having just missed the golden age,” said Assistant Professor of English Jason Gieger.

Whether it was my own experiences with online chatting, text messaging or merely seeing how some of my fellow students write, I feel that the English language has seen a decline in this new technological age. From this day forward, I resolve no longer to use the acronym “lol;” I will spell out “chuckle chuckle” whenever referring to my state of amusement.

Blake Ellington can be reached at [email protected]