Here is another interesting article about the effect of those abbreviations inspired by SMS, the internet etc.

ITIMSVIRAYMD (I think it makes some very interesting reading anyway - you might disagree)

One thing that leapt out at me was when:

Montana Hodgen, 16, .. said she was so accustomed to instant- messaging abbreviations that she often read right past them. She proofread a paper last year only to get it returned with the messaging abbreviations circled in red.

'I was so used to reading what my friends wrote to me on Instant Messenger that I didn't even realize that there was something wrong,' she said. She said her ability to separate formal and informal English declined the more she used instant messages. 'Three years ago, if I had seen that, I would have been `What is that?' '

Some good evidence there that the verb to be has joined the verb to go as an alternative to say in reporting speech.

I'm wow!

B-)