grammar changes with formality?

[Rachel Sommer]

I've noticed that the students at the school where I work tend to write
notes to one another (or in the discussion conferences) only partially
grammatically, sometimes even in "l33t" (originally designed to allow for
as few letters as possible per word, for internet chat, but net-savvy
teens seem to have adopted it as their own language).  This doesn't really
surprise me; though our kids have to prove academic merit in order to go
here, they're still teens and will go their own way. :)

What *did* surprise me was a note I got from a coworker today, with no
capitalization and hardly any punctuation.  This was a personal matter
(she's handing down a bassinet to me), and it surprised me because her
professional emails are generally quite grammatical.  I have friends who
write very ungrammatically, but it's across the board and is due to
terrible writing teachers, not personal choice.

Is this a trend?  Am I just a grammar nazi for even noticing that she
writes differently in an informal email than in a formal one?

--
--<@
Rachel L.S. Sommer
http://www.gingicat.org
"If you scratch a cynic, you find a disappointed idealist."
                               --George Carlin