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. If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
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Filed Under: grammar, language, lol, meaning, messaging, prepositional-because, punctuation, text, words


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  • icon
    McCrea (profile), 9 Dec 2013 @ 5:07pm

    Then what are triple exclamation marks for!!!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2013 @ 5:14pm

    tHeRe aInT No rUlEz!!!

    nuff said

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    out_of_the_blue, 9 Dec 2013 @ 5:46pm

    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]

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Automatic Grammatizator, 9 Dec 2013 @ 6:40pm

      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.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2013 @ 6:09am

      Re:

      You are dumbed down in a way too stupid for you to grasp.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    btrussell (profile), 9 Dec 2013 @ 7:36pm

    Certainly a different spin to account for the lack of education being taught.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Androgynous Cowherd, 9 Dec 2013 @ 7:44pm

    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".

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    CharlieBrown, 9 Dec 2013 @ 10:12pm

    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.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    CharlieBrown, 9 Dec 2013 @ 10:15pm

    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?").

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ninja (profile), 10 Dec 2013 @ 1:01am

    Language evolution is fascinating! I feel old when I enter the IRC channels nowadays and can't understand half of what is said hahaha.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Rekrul, 10 Dec 2013 @ 1:16am

    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".

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2013 @ 5:10am

    Yes, it is a sign of the apocalypse - the end is near.
    Prepare yourselves for the inevitable.

    omg - noobs

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    justok (profile), 10 Dec 2013 @ 5:47am

    I'm going to re-purpose the ellipsis...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2013 @ 8:07am

    like lawyer babble and the government changing the definitions of the wording of the Constitution ....daily

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2013 @ 11:57am

    lol.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2013 @ 1:03pm

    haha

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Kronomex, 10 Dec 2013 @ 1:58pm

    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.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2013 @ 6:13pm

      Re:

      Yes, it's horrible.
      Those damn kids. - Git offa mah lawn raat now!

      link to this | view in chronology ]


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