TEXTING HAS BECOME SUCH A CULTURAL PHEnomenon that there had to be a law put in place against doing it while driving. It also is shaping the way we communicate and can unfortunately leave evidence.

In 2006, officials that run the Scottish Qualifications Authority decided to start allowing text speak for answers. Of course a person would get more points if they wrote in proper English, but credit is given if the officials knew what the student meant.

There are numerous sites that help translate English into text speak, which is great because instead of cards this holiday, I wanted to mass text message my family members with “I hope Ull av a 1dfl xmas n av a gr8 nu yr! hpefully *<|:o)> wl B xtra gud 2U n may all ur wishS cum tru!â€Â

If you are as confused as my spell check is, that reads, “I hope you will have a wonderful Christmas and have a great new year! Hopefully Santa will be extra good to you and may all your wishes come true!â€Â
And I was being sarcastic.

The point is, people actually talk like this now. I can’t count how many times I’ve caught myself verbally exclaiming “oh-em-geeâ€Â or heard a friend say “bee-are-beeâ€Â when they go off to the bathroom.

The interesting notation of this is that all text speak is in English, which means that other countries that use it are unknowingly being invaded by America. Kind of makes you think that maybe the government invented text speak in the first place to conquer the world more efficiently.

Texting already is affecting the way people conduct business.

In 2003, Malaysia began allowing men to divorce their wives through text messaging. Through Islamic law, a divorce happens when a man says, “I divorce youâ€Â or “talaqâ€Â three times. Texting now, as long as the message is unambiguous, makes the process even shorter.

Similarly, when Britney Spears began her decline and decided to divorce Kevin Federline, she told him through text message. There are a few other celebrity break-ups via texting and even more whose phones have been stolen or tapped into. The latter leads to naked photos of Pete Wentz on the web and really, no one wants that.

Used lazily, texting can leave evidence when you should have just called. Recently a co-worker tried to call in for a shift of mine she promised to cover. She told me, through texting, that she became violently ill with the flu. She told the manager on duty, however, that she had a family emergency. Currently this co-worker is one wrong hiccup away from being fired due to this incident. She isn̢۪t the only one though.

Earlier this month a woman in Illinois was caught harassing the 13-year-old ex-boyfriend of her daughter with hostile e-mails and text messages.

She even went so far as to threaten to post naked pictures of the boy on the web in order to get the couple back together.

According to Cosmopolitan magazine (and who doesn’t read that, am I right ladies?), texting can make it easier to cheat on someone. Although, let’s be honest — Cosmo always assumes you’re being cheated on.

But if you suspect you are, get curious, and know your way around a cell phone, text messages are the perfect way to find out.

I guess what I̢۪m trying to say is: knO wen 2 uz it, hu U snd it 2 & b careful w ur naked Fotoz, lolz!

Jessica Dugan is majoring in mass communication and journalism with an emphasis in print journalism.