even predictive texters tend to use 'u' for 'you'... To get "u" "

How do they do that? If you press the letter key with "tuv" on it and then "space", you don't get "u", you get "t", whether it set to predictive text or not.

So far as I can see, the only way you could get "u", when the mobile is set to predictive text, would be to type "t", then press "options" and scroll to "matches", press that and then select "u" as the preferred alternative "t". Which would take a great deal longer than just pressing the keys for "wxyz" "mno" and "tuv", which the clever machine recognises as "you".

That's what I mean by welcoming predictive text, as the enemy of these laborious "abbreviations".