Till few moments back I was of the opinion that formal English (which means typing sentences as they ought to be, words as they are spelled) was meant for occasions (speeches, literature writing etc etc..). But one question and the statement that followed on a recent chat changed it.
"Did you pick up your English from movies or Tv shows? I am impressed by the slang that you use..."
I was trying to clarify that I rarely watch English movies or Tv shows, hence for them to influence my lingo was feable. I gave the credit/blame to the most trustable allies in universe - 'Friends' (always to fall back on - evergreen option). Then my eyes picked up the word 'slang' on to which i hung on trying to decipher the meaning. In couple of seconds I gave it up and asked my friend what actually she meant by 'slang'. I was curios because it wasn't the first time this was happening to me. The other day one of my friends used the word 'juvenile' to describe the English that I used over the chat and today it was 'slang'. I asked my friend to throw light on what exactly she meant by 'slang' (I am used to being pulled by my friends by associating 'slang' to my accent of hind, Eng, Telugu while speaking) as this was the first time I was slanged in a chat. You start worrying, when the incident happens again and again, whether you are abnormal. My question to her had worry at the same time curiosity written all over it. She was kind enough to elaborate on 'slang'. 'Slang' - Using too many abbreviations. Too many abbreviations over a chat by me was making others to either slang/juvenile my English. Ooph now that was something new to me. Abbz in chats is prety comn 2 us (oops-Abbreviations in chats is pretty common to us). All life long in g-talk and yahoo messenger (predominately Indians) we are used to it and we find fun in innovating new abbreviations time and again (Wasn't that supposed to be smart and fun). It is good when you comment over a picture, but over usage of it is hard to follow or comprehend was the swift reply. I did a quick check on the same in fb to find that we both were right. It is jst d Indians who use it tme & again & r comfy wid al d abbz, whereas others use the literature english (read as without abbreviations). Lessons learnt and cautious not to be called Juvenile or slanged in near future I thanked her. In deed this input from my Easter friend of the day (selected by fb this morning) will prove to me useful.
PS: So folks keep abbz to Indians and when you step out leave your abbreviations/innovations on language to rest, otherwise rest of the world will find it strange and hard to comprehend. 2 months it took me to learn this and probably many more to follow in this Euro Trip of mine.
Ms Miller & Ms Danna - I have in the above article tried my level best to keep my slangged/juvenile english out of the way (the once you see are intentional). Thanking you once gain. Ciao…ciao ;)
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