Internet lingo is entering the English vernacular

LOL: Laughing Out Loud.

BRB: Be Right Back.

ROFLMAOITPOAOTTIATHM: Rolling On Floor Laughing My Ass Off Into The Path Of An Oncoming Truck That Is About To Hit Me.

Whoa, there.

Whether it is writing on your friend's Facebook wall or sending an AIM message, Internet lingo has become more than a marginal craze in our technologically-advanced world: it has become almost necessary. Why spend a few extra letters communicating what you can in fewer? Efficiency is key, and in our fast-paced world of LOLs and BRBs, Internet shorthand is simply efficient.

But from the surge of Internet lingo emerges a modern problem. While odd grammar was once relegated to text messages or LOLcat pictures, the alternative terminology has now pervaded a formal place: the classroom. One high school professor describes how students unable to answer questions on quizzes may write "idk", shorthand abbreviation for "I don't know." Another believes poor spelling in students' journal assignments is a result of Internet shorthand.

Seattle teacher Katharine Young declares it is hard to impress an anti-Internet lingo message onto her students. "I get them for one hour, and I'm convincing them to do something different from the way they do it the other 23 hours of the day," she says. "I try to convince them: [It] will cripple [your] opportunities. It will make [you] look not as professional or as intelligent. People are going to take [your] stuff and toss it in a whole different pile down the road if it's not packaged well."

The fact is this seems to be a problem with no end in sight. According to a recent study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project based on 700 teens, 64% of teens now use Internet or text messaging lingo in their school assignments. It adds that 85% of teens regularly use some form of electronic communication, whether text messaging, e-mail, instant messaging, or social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook.

Students say that what start as mere substitutions--such as "u" for "you" or "w/o" for "without" -slowly infiltrate their language more and more until they become second nature. Teachers think this problem will only become more prevalent, for phones and computers are becoming more affordable.

And don't think it is just an American problem. Look across the pond.

"My smmr hols wr CWOT" is how one young British 13-year-old girl began her English assignment. This essay sparked widespread national concern that literacy standards in England were in danger.

Her essay continues, saying that, "B4, we used 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :- kids FTF. ILNY, it's a gr8 plc."

Translation?

"My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York. It's a great place."

In describing the practice, Judith Gillespie of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council told the Telegraph that the decline in proper grammar usage is linked to the fact that "pupils [now] think orally and write phonetically."

While it remains largely a high school phenomenon, it is starting to affect assignments at the college level. Can you imagine using the sentence, "And then Jesus Christ told his disciples he'd brb" in your Religion paper?

Surprisingly, not everyone is worried about the increasing trend of Internet lingo in essays.

"Language is constantly changing," says Joe Milner, chairman of education at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. "It's been changing forever." Milner is quick to add that he doesn't worry about it as long as students know when to turn the Internet lingo off. "It's like, you wouldn't wear blue jeans to a funeral," said Milner. "You'd dress up nicely. So the language needs to be dressed up nicely."

Even though this seems to be a fairly new phenomenon, Internet lingo, it seems, has always had its associative problems. Some schools clue parents in by handing them lists of specific Internet acronyms that students may use in their Internet and phone conversations. Examples include, "POS" (Parent Over Shoulder), "NALOPKT" (Not A Lot Of People Know That) and "KPC" (Keeping Parents Clueless).

Still, some English teachers have pointed out some shorthand abbreviations have already become accepted and, well, needed in the English language. While the Internet may have given us "LOL", the invention of the telegraph gave us an abbreviation central to emergencies today: "SOS". Although Internet lingo nowadays is mostly taboo, our descendents might accept Internet lingo in normal English terminology.

Just don't expect ROFLMAOITPOAOTTIATHM in a thesis anytime soon.