It started with the letter "T."

First, athletes and former athletes, followed by sports talk show hosts, started to drop the letter "t" at the end of words. East became eas', next became nex', NFL draft became draf'. (One of the people who does this is an elderly man and his wife is a doctor.)
Now, I just heard a national reporter talking about some states will require citizens to wear "mass."
These are educated people! It makes them sound illiterate. WHY are they doing this? Is this the latest fad?
(Asking for a friend.)