NEW Zealand's high school students will be able to use "text-speak" ?the mobile phone text message language ?in national exams this year, New Zealand officials said recently. The "text-speak", which has found its prevalence among most teenagers, uses abbreviations such as "txt" for "text", "lol" for "laughing out loud" or "lots of love," and "CU" for "see you." The authorities said that although they strongly discourage students from using anything other than full English, credit will be given if the answer "clearly shows the required understanding," even if it contains text-speak. Critics have also criticized the authorities' move saying that it would damage the English language.
France is not together with new EU slogan
法国抗议欧盟图标采用全英文标注
FRANCE has sent a stiff complaint to Brussels about the European Union's choice of logo to commemorate its 50th birthday next year, The Times has reported. The full slogan says "Together since 1957". The offending image, a child-like rendition of the English word together, does nothing to serve the cause of European unity, the French Government claims. The French were upset that the logo was in English and it looked like an inferior version of the logo for Google, the Internet search website.
