"My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :-@ kids FTF. ILNY, it's a gr8 plc." Literacy, circa 2009.

Huh, you say? Must be you're older than, say, 35. What passes for conversational English, for grammar, for spelling, bears no resemblance to the diagrammed exercises once choreographed by steely-eyed, demanding teachers.

How is anyone supposed to become literate in America when the most prevalent means of interaction has reduced our language to slanguage, to shorthand, to geekspeak?

The opening sentences, provided online by NetLingo, mean: "My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend, and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York. It's a great place."

Can you believe it? Literacy centers are more critical than ever to community well-being. They are oases in the maelstrom of text messages, IM, SMS, email, cell phone, iPhone, Blackberry, PDA, handy or pager prattle and as seen on blogs, in chat rooms, on Web sites, in games, and on newsgroup postings.

This noted, we congratulate The Literacy Center on its 20th anniversary, as volunteers continue to help educate anyone challenged by language, from school drop-outs to immigrants. The work is valuable and it is ever more important in light of changing mores of communication.

UR2Q-T will just not hold up on a college essay or in the workplace.

In 1988, volunteers from Attleboro came together through the Literacy Corps to address needs of this community for a literacy program. Sun Chronicle Publisher Oreste P. D'Arconte was chairman of the center's first board of directors and has remained a supporter since that time.

"Reading is such a joy, such a useful tool that we who can read take for granted," he commented for a Sun Chronicle article by correspondent Janette Boulay. "Learning to read no matter at what age, no matter where you come from, is such a heartening thing. Tutors are so lucky to have a chance to provide that gift."

The Literacy Center tutors offer a range of skills.

They prepare students to take the GED exam, they support residents from other lands in their quest to master this complex stew of words and phrases.

These days, volunteers may also help reverse damage done by technology, which encourages users to reduce complete sentences to shorthand bearing no resemblance to the precise language of 1988, the year the Literacy center was founded.

Nuff (enough said). EOD (end of discussion).