Herman Manson
Guest Author
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/ 30 July 2004

When words fail …

New communication channels such as chat rooms, e-mail and SMS are helping language take on a new form, where emoticons (a graphic representation of emotions), acronyms and abbreviations are becoming more commonplace when we communicate. It has been referred to as "broken English" and, maybe more neutrally, as "digital literacy". Language is going to hell in a handbasket. Or is it?