I wanted to post this story elsewhere on AWAD, but couldn't find it a few days ago. Evidently, it's still only available in vidoe. But this is a n even more appropriate spot for it. It's an NBC News special report entitled "Instant Messaging Alert' about the new abbreviated IM language being adopted by this generation of teens and it's overall affect on the direction of the English language. A must for any true linguaphile, a fascinating report. It's only 2:20 long. Here's the link (after the page comes go to "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw" and click on the final link, "Instant Messaging Alert" this will bring up the video (disregard that obnoxious Microsoft ad, its only about 3 seconds long):

http://www.msnbc.com/m/v/video_news.asp?0dm=C1HPV