It's funny how many of the comments focused on these examples. I probably should have written up more about the 'text messages' angle; I was just using that as one example of someone referring to Zwicky's 'illusions'.
I'm not sure if you looked at Crystal's blog entry I linked to above. He spells out some of the interesting bits, albeit anecdotally. Presumably, the book goes into much more detail. For example:
For every one instance of u, there are nine of you, they found.
Also, I can't seem to find the reference at the moment, but I was recently reading a list of common abbreviations used in letter writing long before texting, like SWAK for "Sealed with a kiss".
Linguist Arnold Zwicky has named three linguistic 'illusions' which seem relevant to cognitive bias. They are:
Zwicky talks about them here, and in not so many words links them to the standard bias of selective perception.
As an example, here is an exerpt via Jerz's Literacy Weblog (originally via David Crystal), regarding text messages:
It is my conjecture that these illusions are notable in areas other than linguistics. For example, history is rife with allusions that the younger generation is corrupt, and such speakers are not merely referring to their use of language. Could this be the adolescent illusion in action?
So, are these notable biases to watch out for, or are they merely obvious instances of standard biases?