The origins of text speak (txt spk)

Ah to be going through stacked copies of newspaper supplements I never got round to reading.
As it so happens, txt spk has been around far longer than you may have thought. That's right. Even Dickens used it!

If you thought txt spk is "dsgstng" due to it's lack of vowels and punctuation, check out this article I found in the Guardian Review earlier:

2b or not 2b

It's an extract from the writer's book Txtng: The Gr8 Db8. I'm sure he appreciates my plugging of his product :)