Should Penmanship Return to School?

[KateGladstone]

I agree entirely that:

 

> If we adhered to that philosophy then we can forget about ever having great concert pianists,

> violinists, or even accurate kickers in football or excellent pitchers in baseball.

 

And some of the self-esteem-junkie parents have actually figured out a bit of that — in several USA cities (including, regrettably, my own), various air-head parents have founded "non-competitive soccer" leagues whose teams play soccer without keeping score (and with no other reward or praise offered for excellent/competent vs. less-competent/incompetent practice/play). In other words, the parents know that their preferences discourage excellence/competence, so they quite rationally (in some sense!) decided not to distinguish excellence/competence from the lack thereof.

I learned about this some eight years ago from a newspaper story whose interviewees included a few kids who had — much against their parents' protests — dropped out of their soccer team when the parents voted to have that team go non-competitive and join the non-competitive league (or, dare I say, when the parents voted to have their kids' soccer team become incompetent?) The kids complained that the new rules (no scoring, no winning, etc.) removed the fun from the game — the parents didn't see it that way, and of course wanted the kids to play only non-competitive soccer (and not go over to any of the teams playing REAL soccer) Because Non-Competitive Soccer Is Good For You. The better the player, the less he liked the team's new rules.

I agree with the kids, not the parents — although theoretically I "should" side with the parents on this one, because ... well, you know how some kids always get picked last for a team in any sport? I would have given both arms and a leg to come AS FAR AS getting picked last: I do so conspicuously poorly at sports that (almost uniformly throughout my childhood/teenhood) teachers/scoutmasters/coaches agreed that no team should have the severe handicap and utter humiliation of having to include me under any circumstances whatsoever: team-captains, other students — and the adults too — quite early saw that, given the choice between including me & playing with one fewer person than the other team — they would do far, far better to simply play with one person fewer.

 

Re:

 

> Certain motor skills can only be developed by long hard practice because that is how our motor > skills work.

 

One school that hired me would not (at first!) accept that. Although (with much effort!) the principal and the academic director and I eventually overcame this, at first many of the parents (AND some of the teachers!) reprimanded me (privately and in public) for requiring the handwriting-class to do anything as "menial" and "backward-looking" as actually picking up a pen or a piece of chalk & writing! (As far as I could tell, most of the parents belonged to the "handwriting-can't-matter" school of thought. A few of them wanted the kids to acquire good handwriting purely by supposing that they already had it.)

 

The reprimands — too gentle a word, perhaps — included hate-filled, curse-filled phone-calls and letters to the principal and to the academic director (a friend of mine and VERY much on my side, in whose home I stayed during my visit to that town) as well as to me during the time I sayed there.

 

I further learned — from the children themselves; the parents eventually corroborated this — that many of the parents (including the head of the school's Parents and Teachers Association [PTA]) had sent their kids to school on my workshop-dates with direct instructions to "do just as badly as you possibly can when they bring in the handwriting lady. Scream, throw things, say bad words, walk out of the room, DON'T work for this person. Handwriting training is a part of the bad, old days and is nothing to do with education. It is disgusting that the principal and the academic director want it taught, because handwriting is a personal and individual thing which can never be taught or evaluated — so if you want to save your school from going back to the bad old primitive times you will have to do your part to make sure that handwriting cannot be taught here."

 

As I said, the academic director and I eventually reversed this attitude (by 180 degrees: every year since then, in fact, the school has had numerous World Handwriting Contest entrants and usually 1 or 2 kids from that school win a prize in the Contest each year — parents, teachers, and students there now take great — and deserved — pride in their handwriting). But it took a LONG, hard, and VERY carefully planned struggle to gain this: actually, a war! (and for the victory in that war, I credit the academic director's and principal's amazing generalship)

 

What most amazed me about the school (before they finally got their act together) —

 

 

/1/

the opposition to handwriting had reached its peak some months AFTER it became generally known that (on a certain date then rapidly approaching) the SAT exam would add a timed handwritten essay section counting for a significant part of the grade.

Sometime after the principal., the academic director, and I had gotten the parents to see certain obvious implications of this — I learned that ...

 

about 50% of parents had chosen to believe "this will never happen" despite the SAT exam-givers' own published statements on the subject ...

 

about 30% of parents, who regretfully accepted that this would happen, had decided to "protect" their children from that "horrible, intolerable, and inappropriate" news by simply telling them "it won't happen — that's just a rumor"

(the head of the PTA said: "Better to not have our kids have to worry about such a horrendous requirement till they actually walk into the exam and have to see it for themselves — knowing about it beforehand would be so very punitive for them!")

 

and the remaining 20% of parents had (from what I heard) decided to do New Age visualization-exercises to visualize the "problem" going away. They figured that, if enough parents just got themselves to imagine strongly enough "The requirement will not come to pass ... the requirement is going away ... " then objective reality would surely co-operate with their imaginations.

 

/2/

These same parents (who said "manual skills are SO backwards and menial!" and refused to have them in a lesson on handwriting) nevertheless paid very large sums (tens of thousands of dollars) to provide their children with very high-quality manual-skills training in sports and music (no "non-competitive" soccer for THEM!) — and they did a very, very good job of making sure that the youngsters actually *listened* *to* and *co-operated* *with* the highly skilled and expensively obtained sports-coaches and music-tutors ... but for handwriting? _Nada_ ...

I will never understand why schools that pay immense sums to teach a child how to hold a violin or a golf-club won't pay a cent to teach him or her how to hold a pen: which do they think the child will probably use most, throughout his/her life?

 

Re:

 

>Can you imagine a Physician without all those long hours of studying and memorizing/learning?

 

If such a physician exists, I would gladly assign him/her FULL responsibility for the medical care of self-esteem junkies.

Incompetents governing the young — including, but not limited to, incompetent self-esteemers — sicken me enough that, once, I wrote this ...

 

 

TO PUNISH THE PEDAGOGUE'S CRIME: THE EVIL TEACHER SONG by Kate Gladstone

(tune: MY OBJECT ALL SUBLIME from THE MIKADO)

 

BEELZEBUB (LORD OF THE FLY-BRAINED EDUCATORS) SINGS:

 

A more assiduous devil never did in Gehenna exist,

To no demon second, I'm certainly reckoned a true-born torturist.

I specialize in pedagogues to make them experience how

Their classroom ways embittered the days of kids who survived somehow.

My object all sublime

I'll gain in eternity's time —

To punish the pedagogical crime,

To punish the pedagogue's crime —

And set each soul aflame

With pain and guilt and shame

That ever they tried,

Before they died,

An innocent mind to maim!

 

Those who in spite of all that is right

Expected a lefty to change

Get surgery from a demon M.D.

Their bodies to rearrange!

And those penmanship-teachers who treat kids as creatures

Devoid of a mind or a soul —

Forcing intricate cursive in fashion coercive —

Must write with a barber's pole!

Those teachers of math will feel my wrath

Who deny the need to know

More than tapping a key to add zero plus three —

They will suffer here below

By flying in planes that were built by the brains

Of those who can't reckon or count —

If the flight doesn't kill, the next airline will bill

For ten times the proper amount!

My object all sublime

I'll gain in eternity's time —

To punish the pedagogical crime,

To punish the pedagogue's crime —

And set each soul aflame

With pain and guilt and shame

That ever they tried,

Before they died,

An innocent mind to maim!

 

CHORUS OF IMPS AND DEMONS:

His object all sublime

He'll gain in eternity's time —

To punish the pedagogical crime,

To punish the pedagogue's crime —

And set each soul aflame

With pain and guilt and shame

That ever they tried, before they died,

An innocent mind to maim!

 

BEELZEBUB:

"Educators" who quacked that reason and fact

Are petty, constraining fraud

All have to resort for computer-support

To the amateur voodoo squad!

Teachers who do science-labs, but who

Never the purpose explain

Spend eternity on bended knee ...

Rolling balls down an inclined plane!

Who never taught their students what

Are the uses of maps and of globes

After death will dwell in an arctic cell

Wearing lightweight tropical robes —

Where they all will remain till they all can explain

Why our planet they chose to ignore:

Why its history — and geography —

Stayed outside the classroom door!

My object all sublime

I'll gain in eternity's time —

To punish the pedagogical crime,

To punish the pedagogue's crime —

And set each soul aflame

With pain and guilt and shame

That ever they tried,

Before they died,

An innocent mind to maim!

 

FINAL CHORUS (BEELZEBUB AND ASSISTANTS):

Our object all sublime

We'll gain in eternity's time--

To punish the pedagogical crime,

To punish the pedagogue's crime;

And set each soul aflame

With pain and guilt and shame

That ever they tried,

Before they died,

An innocent mind to maim!

[georges zaslavsky]

Long Time, I haven't posted in that thread. But when you educate a kid , there are the notion of discipline, courteousy, respect and politness that shouldn't be forgotten. I see a lot of people holding their pens bizarrely and writing bad, I also don't mention the horrible spelling I see in many letters nowadays. Penmyship in the school where I was particular, we were advised at the age of 8 to write with foutain pens and that is what encouraged me to write with a fp, we were also taught the correct method about how to hold a pen which is not the case anymore. Fountain pen allow to write fast, smoothly and well enough. I think that teaching kids to write with a foutain pen at an early age can only be an advantage.

Edited January 27, 2007 by georges zaslavsky

[alvarez57]

"children should unfold naturally: no drill, nothing that the child does not immediately love" (or words to that effect).

What a load of cr*p that is. If it were not for long, hard, boring drills, 95 percent of the top musicians in the world would not exist.

 

If we adhered to that philosophy then we can forget about ever having great concert pianists, violinists, or even accurate kickers in football or excellent pitchers in baseball. Certain motor skills can only be developed by long hard practice because that is how our motor skills work. A great many of today's musicians had to be forced, threatened, or worse to practice by their parents. Then, after years of practice, the kid learns that he or she actually enjoys playing the instrument--but only after he or she was forced over the enormously steep learning curve that blocks the way to real proficiency and which stops any average person.

 

Some things just take mind-numbing practice. :bonk: That's just the way it is. It can't be wished or argued away and it cannot be packed into a pill.

 

Oops, there I go, being a cranky curmudgeon again.

Can you imagine a Physician without all those long hours of studying and memorizing/learning?

I don't think you're being an "cranky curmudgeon" here.

While children develop naturally in some areas, many skills require practice, time, and memorization. As I said before, although I don't think it's necesary for every person - man, woman, and child - to be drilled with Palmer Method writing exercises, there should be some sort of standards that require handwriting practice and instruction. Computers are a great time saver, but we all need to be able to write legibly and efficiently. Regardless of a given style or handwriting - "cursive", Palmer, Zaner, Copperplate, italic, etc. - it is a skill like any other that must be practiced.

 

This may be a bit of an aside, but I see a trend crossing many educational disciplines that worries me. Modern students are becoming so accustomed to instant access information through the internet, that "memorization" is on the way to becoming a thing of the past. If it's not available at their fingertips, they lose intest or simply refuse to do it. The addage "practice makes perfect" so many of us are familiar with is not embraced by some modern students. This is, of course, a generalization, but is something with which we may have to come to terms.

 

I teach Spanish, and like any language - or any discipline for that matter - a lot of memorization is required. While I can explain grammar and structure, and present vocabulary, the only way a student will "learn" the language is to commit that information to memory. It doesn't matter how many times I review something, the students must work on their own time to hone their skills. When students perform poorly - especially with vocabulary - and ask me for suggestions, I often tell them to find ways to help them memorize the meaning of the words. Flash cards, labeling their rooms with vocab words... you name it. While I can give them guided practice for many things, I have no convenient tricks to make them remember that "la mesa" means "the chair." You just have to memorize it.

 

More and more students balk at my suggestions and ask if I have an easy "trick" that isn't as much work. The process of learning is no longer as important to some of them; they just want the final product (word, sentence, or paragraph) to appear for them, perfectly worded, flawlessly conjugated, and ready to go.

 

Well, I've gone and done it again. What I thought would be a quick comment turned into a bit of a grumpy rant.

 

I guess it's just upsetting to see so many people starting to believe that the process - practicing neat handwriting or learning new words in a different language - is no longer seen as quite so important. For me, learning how to do those things was just as fun an interesting as finally being able to do them.

 

All the best to everyone,

Mike

That is precisely how I learned My French and DID NOT learn my German for I did not put as much effort on it (it was my last year in college with a very difficult thesis as a priority).

[KateGladstone]

Yes — people who really believe that you don't need to know anything except how to find the information (that OTHER people have bothered to discover/create and organize) should (if they really believe this) give foreign-language courses that teach only one thing: how to point at something (or act out some action) and ask "Please, what is this?" ... because "you need only know how to discover the information" and presumably you can actually LEARN the information when you get there.

 

And — before the "just-find-the-information" folks begin to teach such a class or non-class — they should have to pass an exam in which the examiner herds them onto airplanes, then parachutes them one by one into remote regions of countries unknown to them (preferably, countries they've never heard of) ... after supplying each examinee with a phrase-book of sorts: a slip of paper containing only the local-language expression for "Please, what is this?" One year later, the examiner returns to see how they did. Anyone who still believes "you just need to know how to find the information" — along with anyone who could not establish a successful and prosperous life in the new country without finding an English-speaker — fails the exam and does NOT get a return-flight home.

[alvarez57]

Yes — people who really believe that you don't need to know anything except how to find the information (that OTHER people have bothered to discover/create and organize) should (if they really believe this) give foreign-language courses that teach only one thing: how to point at something (or act out some action) and ask "Please, what is this?" ... because "you need only know how to discover the information" and presumably you can actually LEARN the information when you get there.

 

And — before the "just-find-the-information" folks begin to teach such a class or non-class — they should have to pass an exam in which the examiner herds them onto airplanes, then parachutes them one by one into remote regions of countries unknown to them (preferably, countries they've never heard of) ... after supplying each examinee with a phrase-book of sorts: a slip of paper containing only the local-language expression for "Please, what is this?" One year later, the examiner returns to see how they did. Anyone who still believes "you just need to know how to find the information" — along with anyone who could not establish a successful and prosperous life in the new country without finding an English-speaker — fails the exam and does NOT get a return-flight home.

 

I am by no means an educator nor did I take any classes in education, so I really cannot contribute much in the subject, but I do remember how I was taught and I lived with an educator for 5 yrs.

Initially we would learn the foreign language (French in this case) throught repeating the phrases that our teacher would ask us to do even if we did not know what was being said. At the end of the class, we had a whole chapter to read and "a dialogue" plus verves to memorise. These dialogues were conversations carried by imaginary characters (sometimes they were the teachers themselves) in an x situation and we had to memorise them to "play" them in front of the class.

This consisted the first year. On the second year then we went into grammar and basic literature. For 4 years I basically spoke French every day in multiple classes.Althought it was not at the time a Major in French laguage, it was even more difficult because it was a Major in French Literature, including theater, oratory and philosophy. My thesis was on Sartre! This Major was very, very structured.It was so intense that 27yrs later I can still write and talk some French!

All of this done in the little Caribbean island of Puerto Rico with Puertorrican teachers who ALL studied in France! I never lived in France but visited briefly twice more than 25 yrs ago!!!

Edited February 2, 2007 by alvarez57

[jamesf]

"la mesa" is "the chair"? what are you teaching these kids?

i kid.

[Ged]

We might be a little biased here on this forum

 

Looking at my mother's handwriting and then my grandparents, I really think handwriting should be something taught in schools. I remember doing some until grade 3. I studied in a few different schools, and sadly none of them placed that much emphasis on good handwriting. Of course writing had to be readable, but when you look at the handwriting of the earlier generations, I think it's safe to say the overall standard was much higher.

 

I guess the lack of handwriting classes in schools led to my interest in calligraphy. sadly though, although my calligraphy italic, foundational, and uncial scripts are ok, my normal day to day writing is still sub par. I want elegant dammit!

 

Maybe a good stub/italic nib FP will fix that That's going to be my excuse anyway!

[robbyruby]

NCLB (No Child Left Behind) puts a new emphasis on writing across the curriculum. We need to teach handwriting b/c these tests will not be put on the computer for a long time. The cost of having computers for all students is way too high for most districts. Many students have horrible handwriting. The test readers (graders) do not take the time that most teachers do to decipher writing. Also, there are many occupations where writing will never disappear.

[Shangas]

I am a FIRM believer that children should still be taught penmanship in school...WHY?

 

I can tell you now, that in today's day and age where computers are so damned common...apart from myself, I don't know a single person who can touch-type.

 

If you can't touch-type properly, then at least learn how to WRITE properly, because if you don't use a computer, then you sure as hell are going to have to do alot of writing, so make it good. That's what I think.

 

When I was in school during the 1990s, all the kids were doing their writing with pencils, and then, during grade 4, we were given our "pen lisences", which allowed us to "legally" bring pens to class, and write with them. Until you were given your license, you had to use a pencil.

 

I was an excetpion to this rule. With my level of eyesight, A pencil wasn't dark enough for me to see, so the theachers let me use a pen. (heeeelloooo fountain pens!). During all those years, I always tried to make my handwriting as legible as possible. Even today, I know people who are my age and can't write to save their lives.

 

So yes, the teaching of handwriting and proper penmanship in schools is very important, something I'd support strongly.

 

Ever noticed that most teachers all seem to have the same handwriting?

[gcfeller]

I remember reading an article months ago, and I wish I remember where I saw it so I could provide the link if its even still active, about how penmanship is less and less a factor in today's classrooms. It gave statistics about how much time on average is spent teaching good penmanship, and it was rather shocking to see just how much of a drop there's been in the time spent teaching it to students in the last several years. With computers becoming more and more commonplace, people do tend to handwrite less and less, but having good penmanship is still an important skill and good discipline to have.

[beezaur]

I think it should be taught, if for no other reason than to teach children that, when they learn to do something, they should learn to do it well. Mediocrity isn't much of a resource.

 

Scott

Edited April 29, 2007 by beezaur

[Shangas]

No matter what communicative, medical and general technological advances are made in the next 100, 200, 1000 years - the pen, paper and a good hand are still essential. One cannot go through life and NOT know how to write. And if you're going to write, it needs to be legible. That's why I maintain that handwriting should still be taught in schools.

[georges zaslavsky]

No matter what communicative, medical and general technological advances are made in the next 100, 200, 1000 years - the pen, paper and a good hand are still essential. One cannot go through life and NOT know how to write. And if you're going to write, it needs to be legible. That's why I maintain that handwriting should still be taught in schools.

I couldn't agree more with you.

[Wizergig]

I tend to think that a statment such as "Children don't need to learn to write well because of computers" is a paramount to saying that children do not need to learn to do math well because of calculators. The presence of one is not provication to dismiss the other. It is a fundamental tool that needs to be instilled from an early age. I pray we never see the day that people stop communicating, or using math because the power went out.

[sleek_lover]

I voted yes...but with this proviso..

 

Kate Gladstone HAS GOT TO SET THE LESSON PLANS AND TEACH THE TEACHERS WHO TEACH THE SKILLS TO THE OTHER TEACHERS!!!!

 

Bill...who believes Kate is a godsend...

[donwinn]

I tend to think that a statment such as "Children don't need to learn to write well because of computers" is a paramount to saying that children do not need to learn to do math well because of calculators. The presence of one is not provication to dismiss the other. It is a fundamental tool that needs to be instilled from an early age. I pray we never see the day that people stop communicating, or using math because the power went out.

Wisergig,

 

I agree with you. You may not be aware of this, but, at least in California, children are seldom being taught math facts, because they are allowed the use of calculators from FIRST GRADE!!!! Stanford Achievement Tests (standardized tests used nationwide for K - 11) make zero differentiation in norming between math tests administered with or without calculators. When I questioned this, I was told "There is no statistically significant difference in norms between using or not using calculators".

 

So, it seems you were unwittingly, or unknowingly, prophetic, but after the fact. This started 3 years ago, while I was administrator of a private school in San Diego, and was administering Stanford 10s.

 

Donnie

[willisoften]

Beautiful handwriting is an art - as such unnecessary, unless it gives those who wish to write beautifully pleasure in it's production. Legible handwriting is still essential. Who knows what the future may bring.

 

The widespread adoption of the computer in business makes a "good hand" almost but perhaps not quite obsolete. The main problem is that we actually don't appear to teach keyboard or language skills to a reasonable level either.

 

In the UK handwriting is taught as core skill under the National Curriculum. This doesn't stop most students abandoning the joined-style script when they move from primary school (5-11) into secondary education. Personally, I don't believe this has anything to do with their general competence. To be frank I just don't believe that cursive styles are all that practical. Out of habit, I still write in the simplified Vere-Foster / Civil-Service-Hand / something-or-other-thingy that I was taught at primary level. After forty years of practice it still isn't any quicker than printing. In my non-expert view there is something very wrong with the entrenched wisdom.

 

Incidentally I do touch type - I am a software engineer by profession. I still write pages of notes (for my personal reference) everyday. It's mostly legible.....

[arbatrmwc]

I got a small amount of handwriting instruction, print and cursive, in elementary school and didn't much like it. Actually I like forming letters and all, but there were two major frustrations: mine never looked as "good" as the examples, and I thought some of the cursive forms were very ugly. It was D'Nealian, I think, and the uppercase cursive in particular were the most hideous forms imaginable. One of the draws for me in learning cursive was to learn to write the beatiful, neat, flowing (and adult) script that my grandparents or older teachers wrote in. But while the simplicity of the style might have some advantages in the teaching of it, in the process it has lost all character. It looks very childish.

 

Well, that's my rant for today. Certainly, I think handwriting should be taught more. Perhaps it would be better if a specialty teacher could come in to do this, as many of the newer teachers don't have the elegant and regular hand which the student should aspire to. Sure, fine handwriting (as opposed to simply legible) is art, but art is a great way to reach many children who may be more interested in drawing and tactile activities and thus keep them interested in school. Learning handwriting also gives students a break from mental work and allows those with fine motor and spacial skills to shine when they might not be able to do so in the academics. But whatever Americans school do, pleeeaaase teach a different style!

[donwinn]

Let me throw out a related question... do you think handwriting is a fundamental skill, along with literacy and basic mathematics, or is it an artistic, cultural, general "well-roundedness" skill more akin to music, art, dance, and the like?

It is true, as David I says, that it is impossible for a large number of people to agree about one specific issue. Yet, total agreement has never been necessary to promote and implement policies. As long as they are supported, and benefit the majority, one hopes that they are adopted.

 

Is handwriting a fundamental skill? I believe that one should distinguish three kinds of handwriting here.

• One, the ability to draw the letters well enough to fill out forms, or to write a legible note, and so forth. I believe that few will argue against considering this a fundamental ability.
• Two, the ability to handwrite fluently, and legibly, so that others understand what one has written. This is the basic ability practiced enough until it becomes second nature. I would argue that if you don’t plan to go to college, and do not plan to work in a business in which you need to share your notes--law and medicine, for instance--you probably don’t need this skill. While giving midterms, or in-class essays or finals, it’s painful to watch some students struggle with the mechanics of handwriting, a fact that hinders their thought process. On the other hand, if you don’t understand what students write, you cannot give them a good grade, no matter how brilliant the essay.
• Three, the ability to write beautifully, and with panache. Few people have the gift, and the patience to develop this kind of handwriting. And, of course, I would argue against its across-the-board teaching; yet, I would encourage any student who has the inclination.

Yes, laptops are ubiquitous nowadays, and that’s great. But handwriting has hardly died as a skill. Notice for instance the amount of research and investment devoted to Tablet PCs.

 

Regarding professions needing handwriting skill, I would have to include just about everything except fast food and garbage collection. Several years ago, our homeschool co-op did a careers emphasis, and went on numerous field trips, e.g., fire department, power plant, architect, building maintenance engineer, and several others. When asked the standard battery of questions, i.e., What preparations are necessary for this career, how long does it take to get qualified, how much does it pay, we included an education-based question. What subject do you wish you had studied more in school? Universally, they said "Writing". They were referring primarily to grammar and composition, but also penmanship. Each job, including the power plant, building maintenance engineer and fire department, required lots of written reports. At that time it was all by hand; perhaps some of have been computerized by now, but it was interesting that every person interviewed wished they had learned more about writing (grammar and composition) and penmanship, to make their job easier.

 

Donnie

[fenrisfox]

My elementary school - given that this was in the '90s - didn't teach too much in the way of penmanship.

 

While I don't have the greatest handwriting in the world, it's better than much I've seen - and a lot of folks my age (~23) can't even write in cursive!

 

I know who I can thank for my ability to write the way I do, though:

 

My Grandfather.

 

He would have me practice my writing every day - and much like his help with multiplication tables, I still get a LOT of benefit out of it years later. Sometimes, it's when you least expect it.

 

----------

 

Another thing - while cell phone text-messaging is often blamed for the downfall of longhand, it's interesting to note that:

 

#1: I use T9 - which favors full words and proper spelling;

#2: I often will completely skip abbreviations in cell-to-email, where my phone supports messages well beyond 160 characters. Sometimes, I'll even include full punctuation - the message could go straight from the phone to publication! :roflmho:

 

The only time I heavily abbreviate in SMS, is when texting to other cell phones - where many of them are still bound by the 160-character limit.

Edited July 18, 2007 by fenrisfox