Karim D. Ghantous
Well-known member
It was born out of necessity - when you only had 160 characters to type an SMS, and they cost 25 cents each, you had to be as efficient with your language as possible. Eventually, as SMS became virtually unlimited, and as smart phones took over, there was no need for it. I think it lasted maybe 15 years.
It would have been interesting to see how this technical dialect could have been refined, had it lasted longer. However, let's note that for the most part, SMS English did have rules, just like any language does. Although some spellings were either redundant or even counter-productive. I remember 'fyre' being used for 'fire', and I'm sure I've seen some 'contractions' that were longer than the word they represented!
It would have been interesting to see how this technical dialect could have been refined, had it lasted longer. However, let's note that for the most part, SMS English did have rules, just like any language does. Although some spellings were either redundant or even counter-productive. I remember 'fyre' being used for 'fire', and I'm sure I've seen some 'contractions' that were longer than the word they represented!