READING WORKSHOP 1“What kind of atrocious spelling is that? And what does Practice the Skills
it mean?”
Peeved at the interruption, she kept typing and answered,
“Wat duz WAT mean?” 2
“That writing on the screen. The jargon^2 your friends are
sending you, which sounds an awful lot like the way E.T.^3
talked in the movie. Look—here comes some more...
‘CU lata.’ Now what does that mean? Is it a new coffee fl avor
of some kind?”
“No, Mom,” she answered. “It means—Oh wait a minute!”
She quickly typed in, “Brb, every1,” and turned patronizingly^4
around to me.
“UC,” she began.
“Whoa! Wait a minute. Say it in English,” I admonished.^5
“You see,” she began again, “we use a different type of
spelling when we chat online. It’s much easier and saves
time. It’s pronounced the same as always, but it’s quicker
to type and read. For example, when I want to say, ‘Be
right back, everyone,’ I use, ‘Brb, every1,’ instead. Or, I’ll
hit ‘CU lata,’ rather than type out, ‘See you later.’ It’s a
real time-saver.” 3
“OIC,” I said thoughtfully.
After observing further, I momentarily asked, “Then what
about this word, ‘kewl’? I assume it means, ‘cool... ‘ but it
has the same number of letters, either way.”
“Phonetically, it makes more sense,” she explained.
“Why waste time using some English linguist’s^6 twist
on the alphabet, when ‘kewl’ comes off the fi ngers more
naturally?”
“Hmm,” I mused. “I wonder what your second grade
teacher would think about that.. .”2 Key Literary Element
Author’s Craft One element
of author’s craft is word choice.
Look at how the author spells
her daughter’s response. Why
do you think the author chose
to spell her daughter’s response
in this way? Think about the
language the daughter uses
when she chats online.3 Key Reading Skill
Paraphrasing and
Summarizing Paraphrase
the daughter’s explanation for
using different spelling online.
Use your own words and write
your answer in your Learner’s
Notebook.- Jargon is language used by a group of people for a particular activity.
- E.T. was the title character of the movie E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. He spoke in short, simple
words and phrases. - Patronizingly means “acting as if one is better than others.”
- Admonished is a way of saying “expressed disapproval in a nice way.”
- To spell a word phonetically (fuh NET ik lee) is to spell it the way it sounds when spoken.
A linguist (LING gwist) is a person who knows a lot about language.
Vocabulary
atrocious (uh TROH shus) adj. very bad; terrible; horribleCyber Chitchat 547