As the subject of much woeful head-shaking among English teachers and grammar snobs, text and Twitter lingo have long been blamed for ruining the way we now communicate. (Because we were such bastions of language excellence before, I guess? #scapegoat)

Before I even start writing on this subject, I should give the disclaimer that I might be contributing to the problem. I admit, sometimes I pass my neighbor’s porch and during polite chit-chat maybe he says he stayed home sick that day, and maybe I say something like “Backslash… hooky?” and he says “Hashtag hung over. Hashtag I am not in college anymore. Hashtag hair of the dog.”

But only as a joke, I swear.

In real-life texting, I only use actual words. My husband does the same; it’s probably one of the reasons I agreed to go out with him in the first place. (#yeahright #actuallythemainreason) And our kids, teenagers though they may be, are pretty good about using real language in texts, too, even with their friends. But then, we did train them that way—or at least, my husband did, by responding to every ‘BRT’ or ‘IDK’ with a made-up acronym:

Kid: “Oh my god. This is ridiculous. What is ‘osysiaaba’ even supposed to mean?”

Husband: “It means ‘Okay, see you soon. I’m about a block away.’ What? You didn’t know that?”

On an interview with NPR, linguist John McWhorter shared his view that texting is more like speaking than writing, which makes it a natural linguistic evolution that deserves serious research in academic circles. And Ben Zimmer, the language columnist for the Wall Street Journal, just shrugs and reminds the naysayers that language has always been ‘mangled and remixed’ by its users, both in writing and in speech.

Somehow we’ve all fallen into this false belief that the English language is a static, inviolable thing, as if we should encase our words in glass like a museum exhibit. But every form of communication—whether spoken, written, or typed into a little screen—is in a constant state of flux. No one says ‘groovy’ or ‘far out’ anymore (#excepthipsters); nor do we say ‘behest’ or ‘forsooth’ anymore. Language evolved, and keeps right on evolving. Totally normal, folks.

On Star Trek, the Borg says that resistance to assimilation is futile, and really, resistance to changes in the way we communicate is futile too. Instead of grumbling, let’s try to evolve a little ourselves by getting over our superiority and going with the flow. The evolution of language just means that many more ways to string words together into new meanings. As writers, editors, communicators, and general lovers of language, finding new ways to express ourselves should be worth celebrating, not complaining over.

#stopbeingstubborn

Maarit Miller is a writing junkie who will always love the Oxford comma.