Are texting shortcuts becoming the equivalent of computer ebonics?

Definitely. You get charged per text so people try to keep them to one page causing shortcuts instead of full words. All the time I hear people actually say the letters OMG, WTF, BFF, etc.... instead of saying the words they represent.

I've always been worried that grammar is a dying breed... I mean how much more often do you hear "no he don't" as oppossed to "no he doesn't." Or "you aren't getting nothing" as opposed to "you aren't getting anything"? And now you add textbonics to the mix..... sheesh!

Texting shortcuts came about when the texting pagers appeared; the charges were per character. There is no excuse for using those idiotic abbreviations when there is space for full text. 5

YES!!!! I helped administer the LEAP test.... its the standardized test at the end of the year in Louisiana and for 4th and 8th graders if you dont pass it you dont move on... Well, one little boy broke his arm so he was allowed to type everything for his essay portions... and he wrote stuff like "1 day d girl & d boy wnt 2 skool & d girl txt d boy 2 say ily but got caught & d fone taken away" but he made mastery and advanced and he was in the advanced classes... so.... it wasnt out of stupidity... it was because he (like many other people) is growing up in the texting world....

Good question! I hope not. I think there is some recent evidence that shows that kids know when and when not to use "texting speech", but if AB is any indication, it's not a rock solid conclusion ;-)