Hiu Syun Kwong
Is it impolite? Is it impolite to use short way to chat?For example:'will hola at you @ 2300hrs ayt?' 'y aint u pickin up the call'
Feb 12, 2016 5:26 AM
Answers · 12
3
Not necessarily, however keep in mind: 1) It looks like teenager talk. So if you want to sound like an adult and professional, avoid it. 2) So often people (especially people who are learning English) use wrong short forms, and when they do so, it looks quite silly. 3) Don't assume that the other person understands what you mean. Not everyone uses such forms, and they may have no clue about what you wrote. They may feel shy to ask, and so you end up making them uncomfortable. And if they don't understand you, your writing is without purpose. So don't be offended if they don't answer you or misunderstand you. 4) It depends on your relationship with the person, and on that person's culture. Avoid it if you are not sure. 5) Normally there are word suggestions that pop up automatically as you type on your cell phone, and they are so easy to click on, so unless you are lacking those on your phone I think using such short forms is quite unjustified. To me it looks like lazy writing, and it does not make the person look good. 6) Typing to your friends is part of your English practice time, so why not make use of it to practice proper English? 7) Some short forms are short forms for insults or other offensive things, and of course using them is offensive. But there are different views, and I am sure many teenagers think it is cool. You choose what group you want to belong to and how you want to be an example to others.
February 12, 2016
1
The only place I would consider using this is in txt/twitter messages. However what you have said above isn't a short form it's a short lang form. And s conflating spellings that make unclear to me what was meant. e.g. Hola in english comes from spanish and is actually pronounced Ola and means hi/hello. So hello at doesn't make any sense. I think what this is, is a misspelling of hollar (synonym/slang of shout/yell) so I assume its similar in meaning from context to "give a shout" which means various things but can mean "give a call" or "contact" informally. However be aware that shout/yell/holla at someone is aggressive, you only shout at somebody when fighting or reprimanding someone. "give him/her/you/etc.. a shout" is a special case. 'will call u @23:00,ok?' Instead of ok could just use k. 'y don't u pickup?' so you see this is using short forms of the words without resorting to slang/dialect and is therefore easier to understand and actually a bit shorter.
February 12, 2016
1
Most English-speakers only use these short forms in cellphone text messages or Twitter, or other places where character (letter) limits are very low. Some people use it in text chatting, too. People are definitely lazier with their spelling and grammar in text chatting, but it's rarer to see "u", "wanna", etc. than you might think. When we use these abbreviations, we write how we speak, so some of your "short [forms]" look a bit strange: will hola at you ayt? (this is African-American English. Nothing wrong with that, but 99% of English-speakers don't speak that way, and it might sound a bit strange coming from a Chinese girl!) 2300hrs "twenty-three hundred hours": very rare, mostly used by soldiers "Twenty-three o'clock": correct, but a little unnatural "Eleven PM" : much more natural 'y aint u pickin up the call' ("aint" is quite rare even in spoken English, so it looks unusual written too) Here's how I would write your message in a cellphone text message: Call u @ 11pm OK? U there? Y wont u pick up my call? Personally, I wouldn't write that way in a Skype conversation, but some people might.
February 12, 2016
1
No, it is not impolite, but very informal. When using a foreign language, I usually try to avoid using slang, but I do want to understand it when someone else uses it. Someone might think you don't know English well. I don't text that way myself, and I wouldn't enjoy reading it. I suggest you observe what the native speaker is writing and let that guide you.
February 12, 2016
1
I wouldn't say it's rather impolite but just uneducated. In english theres a pretense where we believe the more uneducated, ill manneres a person the lower the vocabulary is as well. For someone to use hyphens and slang words constantly would come across as "dumb" or embarrassing especially in a formal setting. This is the view of city people, where slang is used casually and a few at a time. Example: "your hair is on fleek!" This way you seem "cool" or media aware without sounded less educated than your peers. Ps. No one says Holla and stuff except specific cities. If used the wrong way it could come across fake so should be avoided until ones fully aware of the meaning and conext. Hope this helps :)
February 12, 2016
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