Abbreviation for the nation

Being a born and bred Plymothian I cannot hark on too much about my use of 'proper' English.
I'll openly admit that a few 'eres' and 'wheres it toos' have slipped out on drunken nights out.
I'll even openly admit to referring to the city's new super-club as being 'Shannas' as opposed to its correct name of 'Oceana'.
So in saying this I'm hoping I'll be excused from insulting half the mobile-using population of the world (or so it seems).
You wanna know the one thing that really REALLY gets my goat about text messaging...? 'LOL'....No three letters have ever infuriated me more.
For those who have been locked away for the past couple of years, 'LOL' stands for 'Laugh Out Loud' and is now commonly used by half the illiterate population.
'LOL' stands for everything I hate. It's not what it stands for so much, it's its use in a text message or email.
Roughly translated (to me) it means that the person sending the text or email does not have the capability or capacity to express what they are saying.
I mean, do comediennes have clap placards raised when they tell a joke to an audience?! I think not.
I have to admit that anyone who sends me a Facebook or Myspace friend request will be immediately thrown out of the friends list if they even dare mention those three unassuming letters.
Sadly, it doesn't end there. There are now countless websites dedicated to text abbreviations.
One of which is http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp which seems to have ALL of them.
Now it's not just me.... when I pointed her to the above website, my esteemed colleague - and next door desk neighbour - Hannah Wood, reacted with: "What the hell?! I've never heard of half of these!"
While some can be excused, such as 'l8r' for later or even 'ha ha' to exemplify joking, others simply cannot.
Here are some more examples from the website:
'Leet' - meaning 'Leet, meaning Elite'.
'LGH' - meaning 'Let's Get High'.
'AAK' - meaning 'Asleep At Keyboard'.
'BFG' - meaning... no not Big Friendly Giant, but 'Big Freaking Grin'.
'SNERT' - meaning 'Snot Nosed Egotistical Rude Teenager'.
'YBIC' - meaning 'Your Brother In Christ.
I mean, what the hell?!
It's like I've fallen asleep and woken up in a strange new world. I'm 29 years of age and I know I'm not as young as I used to be but things haven't changed THAT much surely?
Teenagers remember how much it is for a bottle of White Lightning cider and that's about it... not a completely new dictionary!
And news just in...
Sony’s game unit said today it will cut the prices of its next generation PlayStation 3 game consoles in Japan next week, and offer a new low-range model in November.
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc will cut the price of its model with 20 gigabytes of hard disk memory by about 10% to 44,980 yen (384 US dollars, £188) from the current 49,980 yen (427 dollars, £209), with effect from October 17, the company said in a statement posted on its website.
The price of its 60GB model, which has no suggested retail price, will be reduced to about 54,980 yen (470 dollar, £230).
The company also said a new lower-tier 40GB model will hit Japanese stores on November 11 at a suggested retail price of 39,980 yen (342 dollars, £168).
The company has globally sold more than 5 million units of the PlayStation 3 since it went on sale late last year in Japan and the US, and in March in Europe.
Sony once dominated the gaming industry with PlayStation 2, predecessor for the PS3, but it now faces intense competition from Microsoft and Nintendo.
Microsoft has sold 11.6 million Xbox 360 machines in the last two years, and Nintendo has sold 9.3 million of its popular Wii since late last year.
Anyway, apologies for the lack of blog last week.
You see, those nice people at Microsoft sent me a copy of Halo 3 on the 360. B*ggers!
They knew I wouldn't do much else with that in my home!
So, here's that review and another...

Title: Halo 3.
Platform: Xbox 360.
RRP: £49.99.
Hit count: 5/5.
Review: What can you say that hasn't been said already?
This game rocks my world... and it will rock your world! It's bigger, badder and ultimately more brutal with games to rival that of any hit title, playability with flair and, more importantly, an array of weapons to make Bond green with envy.
Rarely does a title live up to such expectation, but this game does so with ease.
In all honesty this is the first Halo game I have ever played.
Do I care what happened before? No. Do I care about the storyline up to this point? No. All I care about is blowing things to pieces with a fantastically awesome array of weapons!
As one reviewer put it: "The Halo games were always the best reason to by an Xbox and now the final part in the initial trilogy of ground breaking first person shooters is set to raise the bar for all Xbox 360 games."

Title: Fifa 08.
Platform: PS2.
RRP: £39.99.
Hit count: 3/5.
Review: The one problem I have with the Fifa series is simple. It's not Pro Evo.
I'm sorry but I sit on side of the fence and I always have done. My boots sit firmly in the PES camp.
Saying that I can still appreciate what the Fifa boys have done to up the game.
They've improved the graphics and animation and added some uber hi-tech '35 point decision engine'.
What exactly this means I am unsure of, but the gist of it is that every player on the pitch is aware of every other and moves and reacts to the play.
The other noticeable improved feature is the shooting. Players now move much more fluidly when attacking and players can shoot from various angles of the pitch.
Like I said, while I can appreciate what Fifa has done, it still isn't quite there.
The gap has been closed though.