# OMG! NZ students cn uz txt msg spk on nashnl xams nw! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 13, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289 "2006-11-13T19:31:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/1 "2006-11-13T19:31:51Z")
(Seriously, I had to use a translator to write that. I’m so old.) [Linky McLinkerson.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061111/ap_on_fe_st/nz_text_speak) Commence to wailing and knashing of the teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/2 "2006-11-13T19:36:33Z")
What. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/3 "2006-11-13T19:48:56Z")
Oh, that’s a good idea. I mean if we can’t get them to use their brains to write at the level that a slow monkey could mimic, we may as well sink down and just accept their idiocy. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/4 "2006-11-13T19:52:43Z")
L33t |\ **Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/5 "2006-11-13T21:16:22Z") I know a couple of teachers in NZ and they tell me that there is a **lot** of opposition to this move. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/6 "2006-11-13T21:21:17Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] I know a couple of teachers in NZ and they tell me that there is a **lot** of opposition to this move. [/QUOTE] I’m sure there’s plenty of opposition, but my question, as soon as I saw the thread, was where the **support** for this move is coming from. The article doesn’t make it clear. This is just bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/7 "2006-11-13T21:22:52Z")
I can see where this comes from…garbled writing (where the intent is clear) from, say, someone with dyslexia needs to be taken into consideration. But then, if you make exceptions only for those with dianoses, you’re continuing the problem for those who are not diagnosed (plus leaving yourself open to future litigation). Much easier to say that _any_ response where the intended answer is clear should be taken as such. And if some jumped-up reporter asks whether you’re going to explicitly rule out the use of ‘txt speak’ (sooooo 1990s), and you say no, they’ve got a big story. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/8 "2006-11-13T21:23:45Z")
Two hours later and just now I realize I totally made up a word in the OP. Gaudere, indeed! (Personally, I \*like \*knashing.) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/9 "2006-11-13T21:25:42Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Personally, I \*like \*knashing [/QUOTE] Don’t worry, it’s perfectly cromulent. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/10 "2006-11-13T22:06:44Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Two hours later and just now I realize I totally made up a word in the OP. Gaudere, indeed! (Personally, I \*like \*knashing.) [/QUOTE] Nah, you just mistyped “gnashing”. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/11 "2006-11-14T06:23:55Z")
I think the intent is probably good, but they’ve gone about it the wrong way. What they seem to be saying is that if the meaning is unmistakable but the word/s are spelled incorrectly _and_ the actual writing ability isn’t being tested (as it would be in English for example) then they will mark the answer accordingly. This is really no different from overlooking spelling errors in a physics exam. It is unfortunate that they have come straight out and said “we will accept text speak in the exams” as this will only encourage its use. It would have been better for them to say nothing at all, or to say that they won’t mark down spelling errors. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/12 "2006-11-14T07:43:45Z")
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”] It is unfortunate that they have come straight out and said “we will accept text speak in the exams” [/QUOTE] Have they? The article doesn’t quote directly, but paraphrases - see my earlier comment about how a journalist could ask a leading question and then turn an affirmative response into a ‘quote’. [Here’s](http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/news/releases/2006/101106.html) the official statement. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/13 "2006-11-14T13:19:17Z")
Yes fair point, that is probably close to what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-nz-students-cn-uz-txt-msg-spk-on-nashnl-xams-nw/380289/14 "2006-11-14T18:10:55Z")
They’re in a major phase of NCEA exams programme bashing, here. Every year, faults are being found with the system, mainly because the merits over the old exam system are questioned (and folks don’t think kids are taught as well as when _they_ were in school). I’m waiting for next year’s controversial decision to allow for Klingon to be used as well. That’ll be entertaining.