CrackBerry Asks: Do you type shorthand when in a hurry?

AutoText IS a very under rated & probably underused feature on the BlackBerry which maybe needs a bit more publicity because alot of people probably arent aware of it. It was something i used ALOT on my Torch but maybe not as much as i should on my bold.

I was surprised to see that more people aren't using Word Substitution! It takes 30 seconds to set up a new entry and then a few days to get used to it.

For the most part I type full words but if it's texts with my kids I type how they type, shorthand.
Another factor for me is if it's Email, BBM or SMS. Due to SMS character limitations, I find myself using shorthand there more so than I would in a BBM or Email.

complete sentences are a custom autotext away. for me, [almost] the entire point of having a blackberry is being able to program all of my shortcuts into autotext.
i type 'bc' i get 'because'
'idc' becomes 'i don't care'
'ure' = 'you're'
'ifone' = 'iphone' (yep, i'm that furgual with my typing)
$ = &
33 = <3

AND SO ON. this way, i save time and don't annoy the crap out of and/or confuse the crap out of whomever i'm talking to....

From reading the comments and poll rsults so far, I can infer that the majority of users of this website is on the older side( >30) .... There is no way if you crank out hundreds of text msgs, bbms, instant messages per day (like a teenager or a person in their 20s would) that you'll have time to be using perfect grammer and spelling.... Or maybe some of you just take things way too seriously.... Of course in emails and business related messages one should use correct spelling and grammer, but in a casual message, please relax... its not that serious.

I usually write text in full, but if I'm on the run walking to my car or one-handed or something I purposely use the least number of keystokes to convey my message. Each keystoke is a potential error and hitting the delete key will slow me down and defocus me from what I'm doing/where I'm going.

* or worse yet, I'll have to go back and edit a typo on a forum.

I hate it and will always type properly. Character limit on text messaging doesn't really make me shorten words either.

It's important to recognize the difference between accepted shorthand forms (b/c, b/w, wrt, etc.) and slang (l8r, r u goin 2). I sometimes use shorthand but I do not use slang.

There is no need to be friends with people who text like that.

so I txt when ever I keyboard. When I am using a $600.00 fountin pen & a $30.00 bottle of ink,I want to prolong the sublime experience of"Pen,paper and ink". Life's 2 short 2 not learn new ways 2 do things. Lazy my a$$! It took time 2 learn 2 txt. It takes brains 2 get 2 where U can read & write txt as fast as not. That is where I am @. Still learning more every day. I need 2 learn how 2 intregr8 the number 8 in2 more of my words. Lol!:-). Thank heavens American English is not a static language.

It depends who I'm talking to. My friend uses shorthand when I talk to her so I use shorthand also. But most people I talk to type everything out, so I follow suit.

I NEVER use shorthand...it drives me friggin' nuts when other people do it. I even try to avoid auto-text, since it gets you into the habit where you sometimes might find yourself typing in shorthand in an email, expecting auto-text to fix it.

One of my BIGGEST pet peeves is when people type shorthand in emails and forum posts! Really people? That's just total laziness.

I'm surprised there isn't more people using AutoText (or Word Substitution as it's now known as). Is that not one of the great features of using a BlackBerry device? It doesn't have to mean that one is grammatically incorrect. I type shorthand all the time when using my BlackBerry but use AutoText to fill out the proper word. I get to be more efficient when on the move. It does not affect the way I type on the keyboard. It doesn't make me want to type out "2" instead of "to", it's just a different way of typing things out.

This is one of the few reason why i like blackberry keyboards. You can type a whole Eassy On here.

I can't stand people who write like this! I will usually bring it to their attention and demand they talk to me normally or not at all...

Setup AutoText if you want to write like that!

YBYSA

I use lolspeak to mock, or with close friends who appreciate its humor. Otherwise, I type as I would speak. Occasionally I will use Socialscope's "Shrink text" feature, which converts certain words into "netspeak" shorthand to save character count in a tweet, but only as a last resort.

No matter what typing out full words actually takes more time compared to thinking about how to short hand a certain word.

What about option "I type shorthand even when I am not in a hurry"?

typing shorthand does not degrade our society's literacy rate. Literacy has never been better among youth or adults.

It does save time in most cases, and most people know what you are saying.

This is ofcourse assuming we are talking about personal messaging for this issue.

For business purposes only full words are appropriate.

This is unless it is a well known internal co-worker on the email. In these cases using shorthand text only makes the relationship seem better and more personal.

Just my opinion.

I guess shorthand really only came about because of the limited number of characters we were limited to when texting via SMS. But I have BBM now and I leave shorthand to non-BBM owners and teenage girls,

i always use shorthand.

You know that writing "2" instead of "to" takes the same number of keystrokes (I argue it's more inconvenient because "t" and "o" are left to right with your left and right thumbs typing them easily.

Also, you sound like a douche when you use numbers instead of letters. If you wanted to save time because you're in a hurry, call the person and you don't have to type back and forth.

If you want to use shortcuts to type fine. Take the time to set up your autocorrect to convert your shortcuts into proper grammar. You may know what you mean. Others should not have to guess. Your shortcuts mean something to you. Someone else may use the same shortcut to mean a completely different thing.

Never and it drives me nuts to receive messages that way. Plain laziness as far as i'm concerned!

What about another option "No - I hate shorthand!"

Drives me nuts when people text / bbm me that crap...

I use autocorrect to fix my common typing errors... and there are a few times when I shorthand it for certain people. Mostly though, I like showing off how fast I can type on a physical keyboard!

I think this poll shows why BB is irrelevant to 20-somethings.
When I text, I shorthand to save characters. When I email, I use proper grammar. Most 20-somethings shorthand. I was told by a 20+ that I was the only person he knew that was interested in BB.

I only use one or two words in shorthand. Other then that, I hate it

I type everything out BUT here's the beauty of the black berry. I use my own dictionary. So i'll type whr r u and hit space so it changes to "where are you?" I have all sorts of different ones. And the berry saves me time while not making me look like a jackass. Right now im on a DROIDX. -_- so long story short is it makes texting long due to ne having to correct or clarify what I mean

The title of this post and my first line is a testament to what I mean about this phone

I type everything out. Those short cuts seem pretty cool but I feel that it would take longer for me to learn them than to just type things out. I've been told that I type fast so I fugre I adjusted my ability to what I'm needing versus adjusting my need to my ability.

that's what autotext is good for! ;)

It irks me when my daughter who is in college sends me a message using incorrect english! Grrrrr! Makes me think I am wasting my money!

AutoText helps a lot in those situations, especially if you get creative. "qth" becomes "where are you?", from the old ham radio code. "qrl" is "are you busy?" and "qrv" is "are you ready?" from the same radio codes. "om" is "oscar mike" (on the move/on my way) since we've all picked up that phrase from Generation Kill. "cpt" is "copy that", "nw" is "no worries", "smth" is "something", "idk" is "I don't know", and so on with the usual internet abbreviations.

Correct grammar always improves understanding.