Have you seen this meme? Actually, this example has very little to do with grammar. What matters here is context.
Yes, I got a chuckle over this, but if we present this as evidence of a link between grammar and class / morality / character, that requires a bit of circular thinking.
First of all, the substitution of “u” for “you” has nothing to do with grammar, it’s just a shortcut often made by people who are typing on phones. Typing “u” for “you” does not affect the function the word plays in the sentence (grammar), though of course the word choice (diction) will affect the reader’s interpretation of the message.
My students can all shift between formal and informal language when the situation requires it, though they don’t always choose to make the effort. If you are trying to keep up with six different texting conversations, with people who all understand and use common abbreviations, the extra time it takes to type out the full words (and to capitalize and punctuate) is just not worth the penalty you pay (in that each message will take you about 5x longer to type).
More important, the typical person who uses a phone to search the Internet on any topic is going to be young, and therefore less likely to have gone to college to learn the kind of formal language that society sees as a marker of class and education.
But that’s not the only self-selection going on here.
A Googler who chooses to search for “an individual” rather than “u” or “you” or even “a person” is probably thinking of a word that contrasts with “society,” and that will affect the nature if the results being returned.
This is really a question of context.
Update, Aug 30 2013:
Every couple of weeks, this blog entry gets a burst of traffic as the “how can u” meme continues to propagate. I do enjoy the lively discussions. If you’d like to let me know where the meme is spreading now, and what brought you to this page, I’d be happy to know.
Some clarifications:
Post was last modified on 14 Feb 2023 3:57 pm
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It takes me quite a bit longer to use abbreviations such as "u" in SMS because I don't use phones much and abbreviations aren't natural to me. The only time I use them is when I scroll back through an SMS editing it so that I can keep under the word limit and send a cheaper text. :P
Dennis,
For decades, government authorities have been putting forth evidence that a good education is the best way to combat teen pregnancies, STD's, drug abuse, gang violence, unhealthy living and so forth.
Yet, it seems like you are challenging that hypothesis. You are correct that there are educated folks that take grammatical shortcuts for efficiency's sake. I would venture to say that this fact is more of a margin of error in the data and does not debunk it. I see far more people use those "abbreviations" out of ignorance. I believe Google is showing that pattern.
Google is a global and far reaching poll taker without the prejudices of human designed questions. It's algorithms detect patterns of behavior and in this case the pattern seems to support an idea that has been fortified by study after study.
A couple other things to consider:
1) Google does some degree of language parsing. i.e. when you do an actual search for "how can u get herpes" (without the quotes) it results in exact matches with the phrases "how can you get herpes" and "how do you get herpes". How much this carries over to the search prediction patterns, I'm not sure. "How can u" results in the exact same search predictions as "how can you" when I do it, though somebody else said they got different results. However, "how do u" and "how do you" do not result in the same predictions for me.
2) And, of course, the good folks at Google are certainly not above doing this intentionally as a gag.
I intended to make a claim about the difference between grammar and usage. The difference between "you" and "u" has nothing to do with grammar, so an image that uses the term "grammar" in this manner is not a solid starting point for a discussion of the relationship between Google searches and education / health / morality / ethics. Having said that, of course I would prefer to read the "how can an individual" searches in my kids' web browser history.
It is still about grammar. "U" or even "you" is a first person subject. Not only is it grammatically incorrect in most media for one to use the first person, it also changes the meaning. Strictly speaking the searcher using the first person would be asking Google how it does something. If (s)he wishes to know how a person does this, (s)he would need to be asking in the third person ("an individual", "one", "a person", etc.). Your argument would work if the comparison were between "u" and "you", but not in this circumstance because even if we all accept "u" as an appropriate abbreviation, the grammar is still incorrect.
"It is commonly *used* as a synonym, but"
You might as well complain about the English language becoming a gallimaufry.
It is not only commonly used, it is technically valid. According to every dictionary I have ever seen, including the most technical version of the Oxford English Dictionary, using 'you' as an indefinite pronoun meaning 'one' or 'any person' is absolutely valid.
First person is "I" or "we." Second person is "you" (in the singular or plural). The generic "you" is, in spoken English and in informal written English, a commonly acceptable synonym for "one" or "an individual."
The term first person was an error on my part. Still, the question should have been phrased in the third person as opposed to second even if the intent were to ask about an unspecified person. It is commonly *used* as a synonym, but still not grammatically correct unless speaking directly to a person.
gram·mar
[ grámmər ]
1.rules for language: the system of rules by which words are formed and put together to make sentences
Grammar is not only putting words together, but the forming of them, as well. From my perspective this is very a starting point for a valid discussion.
Technically, spelling is not an element of grammar, it is an element of orthography. Grammar applies to the spoken language, for which there is no spelling.
You are misinterpreting the definition you posted. When they say "form words" they do not mean to create them out of letters.
Well, sure, some people use the word grammar in an informal (yet incorrect) way to include all of the rules of a language in all of it's forms. In the same vein, some people use 'u' as an informal (yet incorrect) abbreviation of the word 'you' in informal writing. Informal writing is not expected to follow all grammatical and orthographic rules of a language. Using an informal term as a basis to argue over the technical correctness of an informal abbreviation of a word seems a little silly.
In the end, while it can be annoying and a sign of laziness, it is really irrelevant to a person's education or their grasp of grammar or spelling. Your assertion that a high percentage of those that use the word 'u' do so out of ignorance rather than as an intentional informal abbreviation seems wildly off base. This is one of the very first words that people learn how to spell. If they can't spell that, then they wouldn't be able to spell any of the words before or after 'u', either. They certainly wouldn't be able to read any of the results of their Google searches.
Technically, you are correct. But I still stand by my assertion. Grammar has become an informal and generalized term for language in its entirety. (e.g. "grammar school") and is an acceptable description of the above subject.
To be clear - grammar applies to all natural languages, including the spoken form, as well as sign language, for which there is no spelling. It also applies to the written language, but only the same structural rules that apply to the spoken form. Orthography is the set of rules for the written form of a language, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.
*very much
My experience is that the same people that use 'u' on a phone are almost all people that will use 'u' on a computer with a full keyboard, too, when interacting socially. There may have been a time when there was a significant time difference between typing 'u' and typing 'you', when people were texting on phones with only number pads where you have to click the number 9 3 times to get a 'y'. And indeed there are still some of those people out there. But there aren't very many people doing Google searches on those phones.
Obviously most of these people know that 'u' is not actually a word, but there is something to be said for the general attitude of somebody that can't spare the time to type out a 3 letter word in their daily interactions with other people.
This is not to say that there is a correlation between grammar and those search results. I think your last point about using 'an individual' to distinguish from society or other groups is probably more relevant.
True, most heavy texters today are probably using full keyboards, but the conventions that were established back in the day are still part of the shared culture. As a writing teacher, I can require my studetns to write more formally than they would for pretty much anybody else on the planet. I don't know whether people doing Google searches think of themselves as interacting with other people, but you make a god point -- the people using old-style phone keypads are not doing many Google searches. Autocorrect and autocomplete will probably have a much bigger impact on the writing of today's tweens than the phone keyboard had on tweens of the pervious decade.
Good points, but try "how can you," and there is a difference. #1 is, in fact, "How can you get HIV." However, that's followed by:
"how can you conserve water"
"how can you create an email link"
"how can you tell an acid from a base"
This meme has been around for some time. It is possible Google has adjusted its ratings, though my point is that the phrasing of the questions in the image exaggerate whatever real difference there might be in the data. Your phrasing shows mixed results, which would not make as amusing and popular a meme, so fewer people are likely to encounter it.
Woah, I just noticed a spike in hits to this page. Welcome. I hope you find what you came looking for.
Be prepared for an onslaught...the u vs individual picture was just posted by George Takei, and your blog was the first to come up when I typed "how can an individual."
Thank you, Kerstin, and thank you, Mr. Takei.
"More important, the typical person who uses a phone to search the Internet on any topic is going to be young, and therefore less likely to have gone to college to learn the kind of formal language that society sees as a marker of class and education. "
I knew the definition of formal language when I was in fifth grade, as do most children who cuss with their friends but not around their parents
A fifth-grader who knows when not to swear certainly has learned a social skill, but by "formal language" I mean specialized professional or technical language, which differs from what most people of any age use with their families (or type into their smartphones).