Well I just loved this. Such a fantastic way to get students into the learning. It made me want to log into twitter and see how many grammar mistakes I could find. It got me thinking about all the fb updates I see and would do myself that are incorrect. I have been thinking, it is certainly a reflection of the individual how you type, write, spell and interact with others at a social media level. I know it can be seen as being ‘cool’ etc….. but I personally think it is laziness. I have added the link here to the red balloon, for those who missed it, or those who haven’t seen it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/05/red-balloon-school-celeb-grammar_n_3551105.html
I thought for fun I would share some abbreviations that I have known, and some that are new to me also (thanks to reading my 12yr old sons msgs…. some are just a bit stupid really!!)
lol – laugh out loud (depending on what generation you are from, my aunt who is late 50’s thinks it is lots of love)
brb – be right back ikr – I know right (courtesy of the 12yr old)
k -ok (I mean seriously you have dropped one letter… how much time did it save?)
bae – before anyone else (I honestly thought this was just like saying babe… with out the extra b sound… I didn’t realize it was a completely different thing!
Ily- I love you YOLO – you only live once (sadly this can be used to do many dumb things and the excuse is, you only live once!! L8R – Later
A few of these probably ring a bell with you, and some may not. I think its amazing how each generation of young persons can seem to add to the list, and some are great and others are just stupid!
A wannabe student blogger about ICTs & stuff 
I enjoyed reading your post as always Christy. I too loved the concept of the celebrity grammar cops and thought it was a great teaching toll and excellent to get the kids engaged. If only more celebrities realised how much influence they have over our young ones and how our kids aspire to be like them [insert eye roll]. Yikes!
Haha, the abbreviations! Of course having teen and pre-teen kids myself I’ve heard quite a few but interestingly, I was always confounded by what ‘Bae’ meant and, like you, I thought it was a shortened version of Babe. For some strange reason, I also thought it had something to do with Beyoncé,,,? No idea why though… Anyway, thanks for enlightening me on this one!
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I think that this is such a wonderful idea and teaching episode. I have to say I am not up with all of the abbreviations and my mind boggles on why some words need to be. I mean really, why is there a need to shorten OK even more to K. Makes me laugh. People often find my text messages amusing as I rarely use abbreviations and am meticulous about my use of grammar. Must be old.
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it is very interesting how the adapation of language occurs. I was listening to the hosts of ‘letters and numbers’ on the ABC detail how the way we converse can change quite quickly and how more interestingly how we tend to change allot of our language structure based on who we are interacting with. I agree with you Leah that a large amount of abreiviations do seem unnecessary and often cause more work for the user. It is little wonder that ‘English’ is considered one of the more difficult second languages to learn.
Regards A. C. Pennell
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Really enjoying your blog. Keep up the posting as its a great read. Thank you.
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Hi Andy, thankyou. I have slackened off as I realised I had made the required amount to blog for assignment 3, and well I have been caught up with the assignment work and prac. How are you going with it all? Finished the assignment? How is your placement going?
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