Okay, so I've decided to leave the third day of the TOdyssey up to your imaginations. Okay, I'll tell you something. We went home. There were hugs and puppies. She cried, then I cried, then Melany laughed... she's such a little trooper!
I've recently been thinking about language, possibly because of Melany talking about *shudder* irregardless and how some fringe radical groups have decided to use powerful lobbying tactics to have it added to the English language, and it's possibly because I've been spending so much time on *Gasp!* WoW lately. REGARDLESS (Do you see what I did there?) I've been wondering when certain elements of our online vocabulary are going to make their way into common speech.
I've actually found myself debating whether to laugh at someone, or say LOL to them, depending on the actual hilarity of the situation or their statement. An actual laugh is an honest expession of amusement, whereas LOL is a sort of noncommittal, "Yeah, I kinda chuckled, at least internally, so I'll throw you a bone." word, or at least it is in my mind, but there are circumstances where I actually have to fight the urge to SAY LOL to someone. My friend and D's friend Tim uses LOL as a sarcastic way of making fun of someone's attempt at humour, but he uses it in actual speech!
What about other expressions. There are a number of online acronyms and words that might translate well into our consumer dialect. IMO, IMHO, IRL, BRB, WTF, WTH, ROFLMAO, GTG... these could all easily take the place of the phrases they are short for.
I shudder at the thought but I accept the possibility. Do you think Netspeak will take over English, or are we as English speakers going to fight to keep the language, if not pure, at least as acronym free as possible?
5 comments:
I've always thought that the main problem with the Oxford English Dictionary is that it's descriptive rather than proscriptive.
WoW will suck away your life. Beware! I narrowly escaped.
uh..Jer...did you put bun bun in a crock pot?
soooo much wrongness...
Hello Jeremy,
I tried posting this before and it did not go through.
Is Mel a trooper (member of a large organized body, usually military, or, zoologically speaking, of a large group of animals such as kangaroos?) or a “trouper” – meaning a hard working uncomplaining person. A trouper originally referred to a seasoned member of a travelling acting or entertainment troupe whose working conditions were often less than ideal.
I am glad you are leaving your trip to Toronto behind. I was becoming alarmed at the amount of energy you were prepared spend on being enraged at circumstances that don’t warrant such an outburst of emotion. Try being mildly irritated instead. Remember your days as a food expediter and have pity on the poor people working in these establishments. Take a leaf out of Marcus Aurelius and chill out!
I was watching TV during the holidays and heard a weatherman refer to the warm winter as a sign of “climactic change”. I suppose the lack of snow could be seen as a climax of sorts, but to me it was a denoument. Or perhaps a prenoument, since winter hadn’t even started.
Again on TV – I was watching Cityline and the fashion lady was talking about men’s fashion, using “real” men and making over their wardrobes. She had a typical middle aged podgy male subject and explained that when a man wears a white shirt with dark pants it creates a horizontal line across his “midrift,” a term I thought particularly apt for what seems to happen to us all after 50. Also on Cityline one of the decorating men talked about what we need to do when the weather is so blasé.
I hear two good ones – a radio host was talking about energy conservation and how the new “high-bred” (hybrid?) cars save on fuel. Later on a program about Alexandria the commentator stated that under the sea divers had found a huge stone from the lighthouse at Alexandria, possibly the “lentil” for something or other. DB said maybe the lentil for a huge pea soup. I don’t know if it is ignorance or lazy enunciation.
My very favourite is from the auditions for American Idol. A young woman with lots of assets and not much covering them stomped into the waiting area and announced that she was going to succeed because her confidentiality was very high. Well, something was very high. Her “risky” outfit perhaps.
It’s just tantamount”
Love from your Mother
Note to Jer's mom -- you should get a blog of your own. And I don't mean that in a "cause you're taking up too much space on Jer's" kind of way. Rather, I would enjoy reading it...
Post a Comment