An interesting observation in a client meeting: we were discussing the contribution of language gaps in a global company to email overload, and one participant pointed out that these days many younger employees use the super-abbreviated “SMS language” in their emails, leading to more misunderstood messages than in the past.

Writing brief emails is not a new device; I notice it particularly among senior executives, who respond in one-liners and even in ALL CAPS to maintain communication despite the overload. These, however, tend to be older people and they write these brief emails in English. For instance, a baby boomer might write “PLEASE CALL ME, I NEED YOUR REPORT BEFORE 4PM”. A Gen Y employee, meanwhile, might put this as “pcm I nd ur rpt b4 4pm“…

The infiltration of SMS style into other media is already seen as a problem in the education system; pessimists are predicting an ominous future for language skills, a debate I won’t go into here. But in corporate email, a medium already prone to misunderstanding, changing the Lingua Franca from English to “txtese” may aggravate the problem – especially where we have different generations trying to collaborate.

Note that the effect is not only on misunderstandings; in most cases a recipient may identify that risk, and this results in a cascade of follow-on emails to try and clarify what the sender had meant. More emails, more pressure, less time, more incentive to abbreviate… do you see a vicious circle here?

I’m interested to hear to what extent you see this problem at your own workplace… please share in the comments!