As I get older and I get a few more years experience I become more like Dad, you know, King Lear.

English has been this vacuum cleaner of a language, because of its history meeting up with the Romans and then the Danes, the Vikings and then the French and then the Renaissance with all the Latin and Greek and Hebrew in the background.

Ever since the arrival of printing - thought to be the invention of the devil because it would put false opinions into people's minds - people have been arguing that new technology would have disastrous consequences for language.

Texting has added a new dimension to language use, but its long-term impact is negligible. It is not a disaster.

Vocabulary is a matter of word-building as well as word-using.

Swearing makes an excellent relief mechanism

Although many texters enjoy breaking linguistic rules, they also know they need to be understood.