text: do you think the internet has done bad things for the english language? just for the basic sentance structure alone? or do you think that internet shorthand is going to become its own language in time? i think a lax attitude among americans, particularly younger americans, has created the problems you mention.  i think the ubiquity of the internet has made the problems more readily apparent.  to the extent that i control anything, and i do control the language i speak and write and, until they are older, the language my children use, it will never become a bonafide language.  thank you for a wonderfully thoughtful question.  its time has certainly come.