Interesting back story explaining the origin of the 160 character limit for text, or SMS, messaging. While calculating what might make for a sensible number of characters, researchers discovered many postcards conveyed messages in 150, or less, characters.
Initially, Hillebrand’s team could fit only 128 characters into that space, but that didn’t seem like nearly enough. [...]

On the subject of initialising and abbreviating, the use of such language in no way hinders new comic superhero on the block, LOLBAT.

Many of the abbreviated words and expressions used in text messaging are far from new, with a number of commonly used terms appearing in an abbreviations dictionary that was published in 1942.
Similarly, the use of initial letters for whole words (n for “no”, gf for “girlfriend”, cmb “call me back”) is not at all new. [...]

Graduates ‘sms’ in job l3tt3rs
It could be I was wrong to defend Generation Y against allegations of being a bunch of slackers, if a recent SMH report, stating university graduates are using text-messaging-like language and grammar in cover letters for job applications, is anything to go by.
Annabelle Puddy, the national head of recruiting for Accenture, [...]