23rd October:

How much further can the increasing bastardisation of the English language go? I can just about tolerate some elements of ‘text-speak’ (you know, C U L8R and that kind of thing) without feeling the urge to ram a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary (and not the compact one, for that matter) down the throat of the offending party, but only when said expressions are used in the course of an SMS conversation. Using any of these expressions on email or any other form of communication is metaphorically tantamount to poking a finger up this nation's nostril uninvited, and immediately marks out the author as someone of questionable parentage and vocabularly. Innit.