DailyDirt: Technology Is Changing The Way We Talk Because Internetz, LOL
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Sometimes we can’t even agree on the definitions of words, so it’s not too hard to find examples of changes in communication technologies altering how we use words. Text messages on phones have made us lazy to spell words correctly or to spell out entire words or common phrases. Language is inherently flexible, and here are just a few ways some parts of our language have changed.
- Linguists are officially recognizing that “because” is being used in a new way and have dubbed it the “prepositional-because” when it is followed immediately by a noun. However, the prepositional-because isn’t limited to being followed by a noun, it can also be followed by verbs, adjectives, interjections and adverbs. [url]
- In case you didn’t know, the simple period as a punctuation mark can be used to indicate anger. Yes. It. Can. [url]
- The ubiquitous LOL is becoming nearly meaningless — no one is really laughing (quietly or audibly). LOL can be used sarcastically to indicate something isn’t funny or just whenever a person doesn’t know what else to say… so it’s the new “like, yeah, um, well, really” word. [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Filed Under: grammar, language, lol, meaning, messaging, prepositional-because, punctuation, text, words
Comments on “DailyDirt: Technology Is Changing The Way We Talk Because Internetz, LOL”
Then what are triple exclamation marks for!!!
tHeRe aInT No rUlEz!!!
nuff said
You kids don't have complete thoughts. Because.
It’s from watching television, which was already called “the vast wasteland” in the late 1950’s, and has never improved. And. It. Never. Will.
The world is being dumbed-down in ways most people are already too stupid to grasp.
13:46:08[o-117-8]
Re: You kids don't have complete thoughts. Because.
Stop slitting your wrists with Occam’s Razor! It’s supposed to be used to trim the fat from ideas so they don’t get weighed down or become redundant. It’s not supposed to be used to keep someone stupid by feeding them an overly simplistic view of the world.
Re: Re:
You are dumbed down in a way too stupid for you to grasp.
Certainly a different spin to account for the lack of education being taught.
And then...
And then there’s LOLOLOLOL. Laughing Out Loud Out Loud Out Loud Out Loud? Not to mention LOOOOOOOOL. Indications that “LOL” is mutating from being a shorthand for a phrase to being a word with its own morphological rules, representing a sound effect. Which makes “LOLOLOLOL” rather redundant with the original “Hahahahaha”.
I red that punctuation article about the full-stop last week. Quite good, really. It’s something I never do unless I’m in a real hurry. But I can understand those who do.
Gay
Speaking of language changes, “gay” is the only word I know to have changed meaning three times. It started out as “extra happy” (ie Flintstones and Noddy) then became “homosexual” (no example needed) and finally, at least here in Australia, now means “stupid” (ie “How gay is that?”).
Language evolution is fascinating! I feel old when I enter the IRC channels nowadays and can’t understand half of what is said hahaha.
Don’t forget that apparently you can now make any word past tense by adding “ed” to the end of it. “Sleeped”, “drived”, “thinked”, etc.
Also, it seems that “of” has (haved?) now become an acceptable substitute for “have” when following the words “could”, “should” and “would”.
Plus “your” and “you’re” are now interchangeable, as are “their”, “there” and “they’re”.
Yes, it is a sign of the apocalypse – the end is near.
Prepare yourselves for the inevitable.
omg – noobs
I’m going to re-purpose the ellipsis…
like lawyer babble and the government changing the definitions of the wording of the Constitution ….daily
lol.
haha
I find it rather disturbing when you continually hear kids (and some under 30’s) not laughing at something but saying “LOL” and conversations taking place via text messages even when they are in groups. This, to me, is the slow destruction of language and personal interaction between people and it’s only going to get worse.
Re: Re:
Yes, it’s horrible.
Those damn kids. – Git offa mah lawn raat now!