Kids these days can't spell.  They have no idea what apostrophes are or what they're for.  People struggle with simple words, like spelling lose as loose. And as for grammar, forget it.

But does it matter?  With the advent of text speak, in 20 years time will conventional spelling be dead?  Will English be officially abbreviated?  Wat d u thnk?

When I was an employer I binned CVs with elementary spelling mistakes.  I binned a lot of CVs 

Rightly so. To be honest, with spellcheckers and online dictionaries people these days should have even fewer excuses for bad spelling. Hell, even Google corrects most words.

Unfortunately there may be a critical mass behind texters though.  In 20 years' time, I have a feeling that "You're" will be as archaic as "thou".  English is not set in stone, it's a living language and the abbreviators could prevail through sheer force of numbers.  Maybe -ing will become redundant for instance?  R u jokn ?

What a horrible thought.
 
Bet you knew I'd be all over this thread like a rash by the way.

You have a valid point Kit and 100% correct that the improper use of the English language is on the up, mainly as a result of 'speed' texting.  Question, does it matter so much when folks drop the odd 'g' or whatever when submitting a view or response on this forum or any other fora I suppose?  Personally I think not and know that I am so guilty of this myself but that's only really as a result of hurridley typing a response. What I was taught in 2 years of A-Level English language and Literature some 13 years ago hasn't left me but for some reason, on this forum, I don't feel the need to be 100% precise with spelling and grammar. Outside of this forum then I'll murder (not literally of course) the folks that I manage for improper use of the English language. That may seem bizzare to most on this forum I would suspect.

Thing is with texting, the abbreviation only ever came about because of the originally limited space. Now it's done when there are no such time/space constraints, so what's the point?

Of course it doesn't matter on a forum although text speak is inherently annoying to those of us who haven't grown up with it.  However a ppor grasp of English and rudimentary spelling seems to endemic amongst the young that it's inevitable that it will spill over into the corporate world imo.  And they'll be disadvantaged by people like me    Of course in 20 years time I'll be sacked for not being with it DUDE 

This will all occur far sooner than 20 years chap.  Half that, maybe 10 years. It matters not though really. Terrorism and globalwarming will have taken our lives by then.

https://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/forum?view=uk

Says here that fora is only to be used "3 (pl. fora) (in ancient Roman cities) a public square or marketplace used for judicial and other business."

Forums for "• noun (pl. forums) 1 a meeting or medium for an exchange of views."

God bless 'Modify'.

Quite but also a perfect example of how language evolves too.

It matters to me. Not so much on forums where people often type too quickly and make mistakes, but in any business context it's absolutely f****** shameful. In my old job, we had a system where a few of us would go over applicants' CVs and give them a rating from A to D. They usually get to me with an average of, say, C+ and I'd mark down about 75% of them for having elementary spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Because I'm a big meanie.