Honey's Treasures

Honey's Treasures

Friday, March 30, 2012

Texted (Tekst) verses Text-ted

Okay, this has been sort of on my mind ever since sending text messages have become the norm.  When I first heard someone use the word text-(ted) with the ed a syllable of it's own, I was a little perplexed.  Thinking it should be texted, sounds like: tekst.  Not really knowing for certain if I was correct of if the people using the word text-ted were correct.  This word text-ted just does not ring true to my ears.

So, we were at the movies recently, to see Hunger Games, with our friends, Jan and Gary.  Before the movie began, I leaned over and asked Gary if it should be text (tekst) or text-ted.  He confirmed what I believe to be true and said tekst and went on to explain why.

1.  The word 'text' is a noun not a verb.   A noun describes person, place or thing.  A verb is an action word.

Since text refers to written material, think about this...

When not too long ago, people sat down and wrote letters to others.  Yes, they actually wrote words on paper, licked a stamp and put it in the mail.  ha ha  ;D

Did they say, "I lettered Bob today."  ?  No, they would say, "I sent Bob a letter today."  Or, "I mailed Bob a letter."  Or, how about this:  "I writed a letter to Bob."  Or, "Bob writed a letter to me."

Think of these words:  reflexed, hexed, annexed, perplexed, indexed, flexed, sexed, oversexed, undersexed.  We do not add ed and make it a separate syllable as in 'ed.'  The ed has the sound of 't' in these examples.

Anyway, I found this link:  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/texted

Look at the word texted in bold.  Listen to how it's pronounced by clicking on the little sound tab.
Look at the word text in bold.  Listen to how it's pronounced by clicking on the sound tab.

They are the same sound.  As if you are saying: tekst.  Text Texted, same sound for both.

Although, as far as language goes, I think it would sound better if people just said, I sent Bob a text message.  Or simply, I sent Bob a text.  Or, Bob sent me a text message.  Instead of, I text-ted Bob or Bob text-ted me.  Or simply pronounce it correctly: texted = tekst.

What are your thoughts?  Just something to ponder.

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