Of Differences and Prep Talk

-I never knew people could be so different when they're so alike. I have a group of friends, and we're really close. People call us "preppy", though I myself have been described as less preppy and more "lax" (speaking of, see next topic), which in normal English means "relaxed". Anyway, put us in our school and on the outside we are pretty normal. If someone joins us for a bit, they might think we're a little strange, but what group of close friends isn't when you get "inside"? Now, I've been with other friends groups on the outside looking in, and they can be a little strange (usually due to inside jokes) but they're not outright weird. Today I experienced my first "outside looking in" experience with a friends group not from my school, or even state. I knew one of the girls, but the whole thing wasn't just a little strange, it was abnormal. Maybe this says something about schools: whole schools (and school regions) are pretty alike,but once out of that school/region things get very weird for the "foreigner". That's the only way I can explain this phenomena.

-Here's one thing that gets me: the shortening of words and certain terms often associated now with being "prep". I can list a few off the top of my head, and they are pet peeves of mine: "probs", "deff", "lax", and anything similar. Why can't we just say the whole word? Now, I do a lot of what my friends do, seeing as I talk with them and see them almost 24/7, but the actual talking like that is one thing I cannot, and refuse to do. Perhaps I'm a bit of a grammar dork (and admittedly, I want to major in English). Does that mean that those who aren't don't need to talk properly? It's only something that happens with females, really. I've yet to hear any guy say it. I think it's more out of habit, then anything else at this point. But we shouldn't shorten words. It's just odd.

In addition, typing like you have had no education in the spelling of words and formation of sentences is not cool. I'm not saying that using "gtg" or "u" is wrong, but when a sentence is unrecognizable it's gone too far.