Txtng: The Gr8 Db8 1st Edition

by David Crystal (Author)

83 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0199571338

ISBN-10: 9780199571338

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Text messaging has spread like wildfire. Indeed texting is so widespread that many parents, teachers, and media pundits have been outspoken in their criticism of it. Does texting spell the end of western civilization?

In this humorous, level-headed and insightful book, David Crystal argues that the panic over texting is misplaced. Crystal, a world renowned linguist and prolific author on the uses and abuses of English, here looks at every aspect of the phenomenon of text-messaging and considers its effects on literacy, language, and society. He explains how texting began, how it works, who uses it, and how much it is used, and he shows how to interpret the mixture of pictograms, logograms, abbreviations, symbols, and wordplay typically used in texting. He finds that the texting system of conveying sounds and concepts goes back a long way--to the very origins of writing. And far from hindering children's literacy, texting turns out to help it.

Illustrated with original art by Ed MacLachlan, a popular cartoonist whose work has appeared in Punch, Private Eye, New Statesman, and many other publications, Txting: The Gr8 Db8 is entertaining and instructive--reassuring for worried parents and teachers, illuminating for teenagers, and fascinating for everyone interested in what's currently happening to language and communication.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Crystal has performed an admirable service by bringing a linguistically grounded discussion of text messaging to a lay audience. Txtng helps readers appreciate the medium's potential sophistication and become less fearful of negative consequences." --Language

"In this witty and insightful work, Crystal examines the phenomenon of text messaging, notably in terms of its impact on language and society. Crystal cuts through the exaggerations about the dire impact of the medium on language and places texting in context. This book serves both as an excellent introduction to texting for the uninitiated and as a scholarly resource for those who study the phenomenon. Essential." --CHOICE

About the Author

David Crystal is honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. He has written or edited over 100 books and published numerous articles for scholarly, professional, and general readerships, in fields ranging from forensic linguistics and ELT to the liturgy and Shakespeare. His many books include Words, Words, Words (OUP 2006) and The Fight for English (OUP 2006).

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0199571333
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (October 18, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 239 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780199571338
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199571338
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,375,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #805 in Mobile & Wireless Telecommunications
- #2,190 in Social Aspects of Technology
- #2,322 in Communications

Customer Reviews:
83 ratings

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5 star		67%
4 star		19%
3 star		7%
2 star		2%
1 star		5%

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Top reviews from the United States

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David L. Van Meter

UNDERSTANDING TEXTING TO AN AMZED 82 YEAR OLD!

Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2011

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When a 80 year old lady said that in order to keep in contact with her, I at 82 had to learn to text on my cell phone. So I looked for a book about texting on Amazon and what did I get? Txting The gr8 db8, by David Crystal. I wont say I got all the answers I wanted, but it did help some with the crazy shortcuts! There is nothing like motivation by a beautiful woman to spur a male into the mysteries of texting! However, I found that just answering inviting texts from a lady are the best motivation. If you want the history of texting get this book!

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Chris Brew

txtng

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2008

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This is a clear, funny and informative book about the text messaging phenomenon. Crystal deals in facts rather than prejudices, and provides an accessible guide to what is really known about texting and its educational impact. The parts I found most interesting were the details on how texting works in languages other than English. The most important is probably the concluding chapter making the case that with good teaching, far from reducing literacy, texting is actually likely to cause school students to do more writing, reflect more on how they write, and become generally more able to use language in appropriate and flexible ways. Before writing yet
another scare story about texting, journalists and educators should read this book.

One person found this helpful

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Grandma

Great Reading

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2013

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This book is easy, enjoyable reading. I loved it! It described me to the T. I could relate it to it at a very personal level. I resisted texting, in fact I was dead set against it, but now I don't see how I got along without it!
David Crystal takes us through the steps of how we resist change, especially language change. Texting has gotten a bad rap, when in fact it is a different way of communicating. We can't even say it is new, but rather different.

One person found this helpful

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Valerie Peterson

Texting

Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2019

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Good book

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Gary M. Olson

Nice to have a sane voice in the debate

Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2009

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David Crystal, an extensively published linguist, has written a sane, balanced account of the txtng phenomenon. He cites data, both contemporary and historical, to place txtng in a realistic context. His linguistic sophistication and extensive knowledge of language enables him to provide an insightful analysis. I am so glad he has brought his expert perspective to this most fascinating activity.

One person found this helpful

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dutch pie

Three Stars

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2017

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Much of this is already outdated, but interesting nonetheless.

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Liips

Interesting and informative.

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2012

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I read this book to do some research for an essay on netspeak...it was very interesting with plenty of info on texting and netspeak...made me rethink and restructure my thesis and helped me get an A on my assignment...a decent read!

Helpful

andrea.lee

great

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2013

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This is a great book. David Crystal does an excellent job making texting and its impact on language understandable for everyone, not just linguists. Great for English majors.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

D. Izod

essential reading for teachers and punters

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 23, 2011

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The problem with teaching 'Language and Technology' at A level is that the technology and our interaction with it is changing so fast that there is virtually no established texts that are available for the general reader. Google Scholar is all very well, but it takes hours of searching to find only abstracts of academic papers. So, hats off to Crystal then, who has collated much of the research from the past ten years and synthesised it down into a very readable resource for enjoyable reading and also for giving us teachers something solid to base our lessons on rather than something published six or seven years ago that is now as redundant as a Betamax copy of Jaws.

Crystal is as usual authorative, engaging and here is certainly going out on a limb and offering a coherent and well argued case that texting is an interesting, positive influence on our beautiful language and provides heaps of evidence as to why John Humphrys et al are bleating old has beens who speak from a position of delicious ignorance.

Buy this for fun and buy it so you can shut people up when they start talking rubbish. Oh yes, and as a great teaching aid.

One person found this helpful

Mr. Paul Hopkins

It ws gr8!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2013

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David Crystal is a well respected semiotician and this book is perfect for reading for those doom-mongers who are convinced that the SMS is the end of civilisation - as was TV, rock'n'roll and probably even Radio 4 when it first started. Crystal sets SMS in its linguistic historical setting recounting how abbreviations, shortening of words and slang are not new - even that Stratford chappie used to do it! Apart from the solid scholarship the book is written is an accessibly form and gives some wonderful examples of the what txng can do as a literary genre in its own right - see the section on SMS poetry.

One person found this helpful

Azia

helpful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2016

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Helpful book to read for my linguistic and language course. Gives you a good understanding on texting as its own language and adaptions and why we now use it in our everyday conversations

Jillian Greenwood

of gr8 interest to everyone who texts or whose children text

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2013

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I read this book for academic reasons for my job, but found myself personally interested in the phenomena of texting and messaging which is all around us today. As a teacher, I had thought that texting and internet searching had improved literacy and understanding of language rather than increasing illiteracy, and i was pleased to have this observation confirmed. Lots of little snippets, such as the grammar error 'would of' instead of would have, used by the poet Keats, not the fault therefore of texting, although we see here that the way texters play with words and sentences can be similar to how poets manipulate language.

Refreshing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 23, 2013

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What a clever man. As always this book is written with a very experienced, open and ever inquiring mind, which is why his books never fail to please.

2 people found this helpful

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Txtng: The Gr8 Db8 1st Edition

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