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This article appeared in the Autumn 2001 edition of Short Words, the newsletter of Tim Albert Training. It was written by Tim Albert.

Writing for the web 'is changing the way we write in English'

Emails and the world wide web are bringing about major changes in the way we write, according to two reports.

The first, by the marketing group The Fourth Room, has reported that most web users believe that:

· apostrophes are unnecessary,
· spelling mistakes are acceptable,
· writing Mr or Mrs is too formal.

They conclude that a new language is being created, which they call Weblish.

'Traditionalists will be wringing their hands,' they conclude, 'but the online exposure to global culture will ensure a rich new way of communicating'.

A survey of 2000 adults carried out by MSN Hotmail found that most Britons under the age of 25 had never written a formal letter.

Nearly half didn't bother with spelling and punctuation, but more than half said they were annoyed by careless e-mails. One in 20 put 'love and kisses' at the end of an email to their boss.

'It's not unusual now to send and receive hundreds of emails each day, but our research shows that people want some kind of guidance about what is expected and acceptable', said Tracy Blacher, marketing manager at MSN Hotmail.

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