T.J.,

My experience of numerals as graphemes goes back a half-century to my grade
school days, when female classmates wrote in each other's memory books
phrases like "2 young 2 B in love." The memory causes me no "deep sadness,"
not even for the triteness of the sentiments. Today I see lots of numerical
rebuses on vanity license plates ("GR8FUL"). Wasn't it the rebus principle
that gave us our alphabet, when some clever Semite decided to use the
Egyptian ox character to represent the vowel it sounded like, the end result
being our Roman letter A?

I also see graphemes used for visual effect. The title of a best-selling
book about the financial meltdown appears on its cover as "RECKLES$
ENDANGERMENT," with the dollar sign skewed as if tumbling downward.

Am I "endorsing numerals as graphemes"? Well, I guess I am, when they are
used cleverly and interestingly in appropriate situations. One of our tasks
as educators is to guide students to understand that different media have
different conventions. What is standard in a tweet or a Facebook posting can
be nonstandard in a term paper. For that matter, a style that is appropriate
in an email to a close friend would be inappropriate in an ATEG email. After
a few mistakes, most students quickly learn the boundaries. I think you need
not worry that we are polluting the language or corrupting minds.

Dick



On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 11:48 AM, T. J. Ray <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>  May I be permitted to express my deep sadness that subscribers to this
> channel
> are now endorsing numerals as graphemes?  Well, I just did so with no
> apology
> for the question.
>
> T. J.
>
>

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