Teh state of spelling in today's phast paste whirled

So i got this message from a friend on the east coast:

   until ahe skight thunders torm

And it was one of the first times that i've ever had to do a double take when reading an IM from a friend.  The problem is that it's soooo close to english that my mind quickly scanend it and glommed some meaning out of it (something about a thunderstorm).  But suddenly i realized that i hadn't gotten enough meaning and i needed to focus more closely.  But when i did i realized that i had absolutely no idea what she was talking about and i had to ask for clarification.  No, she wasn't drunk.  Instead, like me, she's gotten incredibly lazy about spelling (depending instead on tools like Word to autocorrect, or for people to just be able to understand no matter what).

Personally, i have no qualms over this.  I find spelling to be pretty anal and for the most part irrelevant.  Add the fact that english has the most obtuse and incomprehensible spelling rules (which often consist of nothing but exceptions), and you start thinking: "why don't i just spell in a way that is simple and makes sense, and maybe if i'm lucky everyone else will start doing that do and life will be much easier for my kids once they hit second grade".

I always thought 1984 had it ... write :) 

---

Edit: when i told my friend that i'd blogged about this, she immediately responded:

   sen dm ethe linkn

:-D