Oedipus rolls over in his grave

CNN notes a troubling new trend:

ORLANDO, Florida (AP) -- Middle school teacher Julia Austin is noticing a new generation of errors creeping into her pupils' essays.

Sure, they still commit the classic blunders -- like the commonly used "ain't." But an increasing number of Austin's eighth-graders also submit classwork containing "b4," "ur," "2" and "wata" -- words that may confuse adults but are part of the teens' everyday lives.

Now I'll admit, I'm as guilty as the next guy of dropping occasional COBOL-speak in my writing, though I'm sure it never got thru final editing on a formal paper.

But I never did one like this.

(language warning)