I have something against the prevalence of slang in American dialogue. The way today’s youth talks – or at least _types_ – especially bugs me. This comic from Ctrl-Alt-Del very adequately demonstrates my annoyance with this growing trend and my opinion of those forum junkies and text messagers who resort to such sloppy and shoddy forms of communication. Granted, most of these abbreviations have arisen as shortcuts for frequently used phrases. Heck, I use a handful of them myself, albeit sparingly.
You see it most frequently on discussion forums, where entire threads devolve into a series of acronymistic call-and-response discussions. You start with “LOL!” Someone else responds with “FTW,” which is then followed up by a third response of “WTF.” Entire pages of discussion are lost to this bestial, primitive, mind-melting communication. Strangely, it is the younglings of our species who seem to be most prone to this form of dialogue. It’s almost a code to those of us in the older generation. We can scan down these pages and have zero clue as to what’s being said, let alone what the topic is, if there even is one.
As Ctrl-Alt-Del so satirically points out, as soon as someone tries to introduce _real_ dialogue and discussion, using _real_ words that _actually_ exist, the LOLlers are soon revealed as the slavering, drooling morons that they truly are, and the discussion thread implodes upon its own shallowness.
And is it any wonder why the youth of America find it so very difficult to communicate in a mature, coherent manner or why so many of them suffer from stunted social skills? I weep for our future.
LOL! No, just kidding. That was a nice post. It is somewhat frustrating to get text and instant messages and not know for sure what the person is talking about. I recently read somewhere that since kids have started using aim and text messaging, test scores have significantly dropped.
I think it’s a combination of several things leading to lower test scores – the use of crap language like all these idiotic acronyms, the additional time spend on computers and cell phones, and the subsequent time spent away from things like reading and schoolwork. It almost makes me glad that technology wasn’t quite as prolific when I was a kid as it is now. Of course, I can’t imagine anything ever interfering with my love for reading. Trouble is, most parents these days don’t really read, so their children never get inculturated into reading – and it shows.
wtf? Sorry just had to grate on your nerves. I don’t mind slang so much as long as it is in its proper context – casual conversation – and as long as the intended message is still conveyed. Though anytime anyone is trying to debate logically, the presence of slang in their speech tends to cause me to lower my opinion of their credibility, thus harming their argument.
What I find irritating are clichés – particularly in the Church. People are so lazy in their relationship with God they allow their speech to be inundated with mindless statements that mean nothing!
LOL CAD FTW!!!
I love the use of slang, if used sparingly. Of course, it depends on WHO you are talking to that should drive the way you talk. I know that I talk to my parents one way, my friends another, my co workers another, and my girlfriend another way.
I signed up for AIM when I was 12, and I’ve been using it ever since. I still sign on it daily, and keep it up whenever my computer is on and I’m nearby. I spend most of my workdays in hunting through a few different forums, but I don’t think it’s necessarily the exposure from these areas that drive this behavior.
It’s more from the circle of friends that you surround yourself with and how much you want to fit in when something like this comes along.
If you go to Communities like 4chan and YTMND, you’ll find this stuff in excess which makes my brain hurt.