Filipino Paolo’s txt style sets trend

It is said that the Philippines is the “Text Capital” in the world. The fact reveals that the 97% of the Filipino community of all ages have possessed cellular phones called “a fashion gadget”. With this number, 90% have dramatically become “hard texters”. “Hard texters” never call but engage on sending Short Messaging System (SMS) incessantly.

According to the country’s giant service providers, the Smart Communications and the Globe Telecom, their respective networks receive millions of SMS every tick of a second. Smart alone registers about 8 million SMS every minute.

But the question is: How does Juan Dela Cruz (A Pinoy’s popular icon) send text messages (short for SMS)?

Paolo Miguel Padpad, a 15-year-old student of Negros Occidental Science High School in Victorias City, Negros Occidental, has developed and conceivably set a trend that most youngsters crave to adopt in their “text life”. Though the text style looks thorny and tricky, the words Paolo often types in his cellular phone have the artistic and creative touch that speaks of his ingenuity.

“2hrz”. That’s for 2 hours. “Pxalod” is for “pasalod”. “nYc”, nice. “pWeTty”, pretty. “fHyNe”, fine. “oKieZ”, okay. “eLoWiEz”, hello. “xUmMr”, summer. “pHwEeiZz”, please. “lHuBLyF”, lovelife. And, “lHuBLotzHh”, love lots.

Other text words include “bE bLeZzd”, “mHuAkZzH”, “eiNquEzHu”, “hOwZ”, “uRz”, “yHuP”, “waT” and “maTtrZ”.

Instead of typing “what’s the matter?”, Paolo keys in “waTz D maTtrZ?” And, how’s your life, he rather forms “hOwZ uR Lyf?”.

If we will weigh up those crafts formulated by Paolo, there is still a fine syntax in the text words.

In 1976, as a 27-year-old Ph. D. student, now Dr. Graham Rawlinson put forward the theory that skilled readers can understand text, even if the letters of the words are jumbled up. “aoccdrnig to rsceearh at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in what order the ltteers in a word are, the only iprmoantnt thing is that the frist and lsat lteers are at the rghit pclae. This is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itself but the word as a wlohe.”

Has Paolo’s art of texting something to do with Rawlinson’s theory? (To be continued)