I credit my typing skill to so many hours of chatting online. Unfortunately, as my typing speed
increased on the Internet, all grammatical rules went out of the window. You see instant messages
have their own shorthand language and grammar isn't important, of which even a newbie (新手) is
aware. They can leave out articles, subjects (主語), pronouns, etc. They can misspell or "respell"
almost any word. They often ask "A/S/L" when they first chat. Abbreviations (縮寫) and
capitalizations (大寫) are particularly important. English-speaking instant messengers also refuse
to burden themselves with punctuation and capitalization.
    After I came back China, I discovered not one but two instant messaging crazes. The first, which
brought back memories of my previous addiction to the computer, was QQ. I can see evidence that
the Chinese have the same kind of separate instant messaging language, even when they chat in
English. My first word in this language, for example, was "ft". This abbreviation for "faint" is used
whenever there is a need to express surprise. I also discovered that Chinese use the same kind of
abbreviation for a laugh. And there is an extraordinary number of smileys (表情符) to the "vomit"
and "army soldier" smileys. There is even a SARA smiley.
     After QQ, there is another, perhaps more widespread messaging trend. You guessed it-cell phone
text messaging. I now understand how useful text messaging is and why it is so common. I admit that
I have been guilty of sending text messages while walking outside or sitting on the subway. Who
hasn't ? No matter where I go, I see people on their cell phones, messaging. In fact, it's rare to see
someone actually talking on their phone!
     So it looks as if there is no escape from the instant messaging crazes, no matter where in the
world I go. And that's plainly not going to change. In the end, though, I can't complain: instant
messaging is quick, it's cheap, it's easy and it's extremely fun too. And after all, everyone's doing it.