shorthand in verbal conversation

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AuthorTopic: shorthand in verbal conversation
Warrior
Member # 5483
Profile #0
Lately I've noticed some people engaged in verbal conversation actually spelling out things like "OMG" and "lol" even though they are the same number of syllables as the actual words and therefore take just as long to say and I was wondering what percentage of people are irritated by this.

[ Thursday, January 24, 2008 09:55: Message edited by: The_Other_Guy ]

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Ignorance Is bliss -Cypher (Matrix)
Don't think you can; know you can -Morpheus (Matrix)

sanity is overrated :)
Posts: 130 | Registered: Monday, February 7 2005 08:00
Guardian
Member # 5360
Profile #1
Some of Nalyd's friends do that, but only as jokes.

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Posts: 1636 | Registered: Wednesday, January 5 2005 08:00
Shaper
Member # 7420
Profile Homepage #2
I only do that when it is in reference to something on the internet for effect.

"Hey Emperor, did you see that horrible video online the other day? It was terrible what happened to those children!"

"Meh, I el-oh-el'ed."

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You lose.
Posts: 2156 | Registered: Thursday, August 24 2006 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 2123
Profile #3
I talk that way only to my computer geek friends as a way of being funny.

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Posts: 228 | Registered: Monday, October 21 2002 07:00
Skip to My Lou
Member # 40
Profile Homepage #4
In my head I actually mentally pronounce them "omg" and something like "lowl", sort of like a supercrunched version of 'l'augh 'ou't 'l'oud. I worry that I'm going to get too used to doing that and respond to some one by saying omg.

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Posts: 1629 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #5
I have occasionally responded verbally with lol (sounds identical to the real word loll) and zomg (pronounced phonetically), but only in a very high falsetto, and I always regret it afterwards even though I giggle elatedly.

—Alorael, who has yet to hear anyone use internetisms in person in a non-ironic way.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Lifecrafter
Member # 6700
Profile Homepage #6
My hallmates have taken to using some shorthand due to our school's rather strict code on language. So OMG and WTF are quite common. W/E is used highly sarcastically.
Of course, this is the same group of people that uses "shoes" (Dane Cook's Fire Truck sketch), "cow" (the previous stage in the evolution of that one was "mother heiffer". draw your conclusions), and "table" (long story, refers to BS) as euphamisms.

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Posts: 735 | Registered: Monday, January 16 2006 08:00
Shaper
Member # 3442
Profile Homepage #7
I'd much rather stick to Cockney Rhyming slang.

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Nikki's Nook - White, two sugars. :)
Posts: 2864 | Registered: Monday, September 8 2003 07:00
Agent
Member # 4574
Profile #8
I did it once accidentally, and I then inflicted much punishment upon myself. The Flagellant Brothers had nothing on me.

I implore whatever theos installed the Internet on his computer promptly delete it. Sure, the global economy'll get messed up, and there'll be riots from internet geeks everywhere, but it's worth it. And as for cellphones, we can rip down the towers ourselvers. Pakistani Cave Coca-Cola style.

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Posts: 1186 | Registered: Friday, June 18 2004 07:00
Agent
Member # 8030
Profile Homepage #9
I don't use such abbreviations period. Even if I'm chatting before joining a game, I still write with proper grammar.

During my freshman year our English teachers made us revise each others papers. I was quite shocked, as some people used "omg" in character dialog.

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Posts: 1384 | Registered: Tuesday, February 6 2007 08:00
Infiltrator
Member # 9887
Profile #10
I will ocaissionally use lol in IM but only if it actually fits what I am/was doing.

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Hmm... Ornks, gazers and guacamole. What kind of food would you get?
=:T:=
Posts: 454 | Registered: Monday, August 20 2007 07:00
Warrior
Member # 5483
Profile #11
quote:
Of course, this is the same group of people that uses "shoes" (Dane Cook's Fire Truck sketch), "cow" (the previous stage in the evolution of that one was "mother heiffer". draw your conclusions), and "table" (long story, refers to BS) as euphamisms.
I never understood the use of euphemisms. Why do some people consider it improper to utter certain words yet have no problem with using other words meaning the same thing? And what I REALLY want to know is why some people think they have the right to force this backward opinion on the rest of us. I could get into a long rant about it and the FCC in particular but It'd just be a waste of space really.

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Ignorance Is bliss -Cypher (Matrix)
Don't think you can; know you can -Morpheus (Matrix)

sanity is overrated :)
Posts: 130 | Registered: Monday, February 7 2005 08:00
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #12
I think we have a social or at least societal need to have a way to verbally transgress social norms. If common profanity becomes acceptable more extreme terms must be invented to keep invective a viable option.

Many euphemisms aren't about things considered obscene, though. Some are about being sensitive to, well, delicate sensibilities. Some are just absurd. Some exist solely for variety of expression.

—Alorael, who %$&@#s the $%#@ out of all the a@#%# in euphemisms. On another note, he can't recall ever having used that particular verb immediately after the "who" in his signature.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Law Bringer
Member # 2984
Profile Homepage #13
I've said "lol" once, pronouncing it the way you'd pronounce "loll". I've rarely felt that embarrassed before.

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Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00
Lifecrafter
Member # 7252
Profile #14
Depends on what moment I use it..

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Posts: 732 | Registered: Saturday, June 24 2006 07:00
Lifecrafter
Member # 4682
Profile #15
The only abbreviation I've ever used online is brb, and then only when my mom is calling me to come RIGHT NOW. I will use w00t occasionally in real life because I think it's a funny word. When I think something is funny, I usually type *laughs* or something like that. I don't hang out with people who use instant messenger or forums that much, so I haven't really had people use abbreviations around me in real life, though online I have encountered them far more than I would like.

[ Friday, February 01, 2008 17:53: Message edited by: Nicothodes ]

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Posts: 834 | Registered: Thursday, July 8 2004 07:00
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #16
Online, smileys and shortcuts like 'lol' are just a substitute for non-verbal communication. Typing '*smiles*' or '*chuckles*' feels more artificial than ': )' or 'lol'. However, if these become ingrained to the point that people think 'lol' instead of actually laughing, it might be time to start spending less time in front of computer.

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Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
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Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
? Man, ? Amazing
Member # 5755
Profile #17
We used to say that about contractions.

Now look at them.

Everywhere.

Pffft!

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Synergy, et al - "I don't get it."

Argon - "I'm at a loss for words..."
Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00
Triad Mage
Member # 7
Profile Homepage #18
OMG! totes! obvi ... haha, jk ...

^
|

I may say things like that only half-kidding. The "jk" is always 100% kidding, though.

Also, WWW is the worst abbreve ever - 9 syllables, as opposed to 3 for World Wide Web.

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Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00
Warrior
Member # 5483
Profile #19
quote:
I think we have a social or at least societal need to have a way to verbally transgress social norms. If common profanity becomes acceptable more extreme terms must be invented to keep invective a viable option.
Interesting hypothesis. You may have something there. Although cursing is a social norm where I am, the minority of people who have a problem with it are likely responsible for its continued use. It's quite ironic that their attempts to get us to stop using certain words are what cause us to continue using them frequently.

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Ignorance Is bliss -Cypher (Matrix)
Don't think you can; know you can -Morpheus (Matrix)

sanity is overrated :)
Posts: 130 | Registered: Monday, February 7 2005 08:00
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
Profile #20
From The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams:
quote:
The etymology of OK was masterfully explained by the distinguished Columbia University professor Allen Walker Read in a series of articles in the journal American Speech in 1963 and 1964.

The letters, not to keep you guessing, stand for "oll korrect." They're the result of a fad for comical abbreviations that flourished in the late 1830s and 1840s.

Read buttressed his arguments with hundreds of citations from newspapers and other documents of the period. As far as I know his work has never been successfully challenged.

The abbreviation fad began in Boston in the summer of 1838 and spread to New York and New Orleans in 1839. The Boston newspapers began referring satirically to the local swells as OFM, "our first men," and used expressions like NG, "no go," GT, "gone to Texas," and SP, "small potatoes."

Many of the abbreviated expressions were exaggerated misspellings, a stock in trade of the humorists of the day. One predecessor of OK was OW, "oll wright," and there was also KY, "know yuse," KG, "know go," and NS, "nuff said."

Most of these acronyms enjoyed only a brief popularity. But OK was an exception, no doubt because it came in so handy. It first found its way into print in Boston in March of 1839 and soon became widespread among the hipper element.
I can't tell whether 1840 hipsters actually spoke 'NS' or 'KG', or whether they only wrote them in newspapers. But obviously at some point people were saying 'OK', so the rest are at least plausible.

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Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00
Agent
Member # 8030
Profile Homepage #21
Interesting. I had thought OK originally meant "Old Kinderhook."

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Posts: 1384 | Registered: Tuesday, February 6 2007 08:00
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
Profile #22
If you read the full article I linked to, you see that it kind of did. That is, the 'Oll Korrect' version was already current when Martin van Buren's 1840 presidential campaign turned his 'Old Kinderhook' nickname (he was from Kinderhook, NY) into a punning slogan. OK was OK, or something like that. The OK campaign slogan made no sense unless at least some people already new OK meant okay, but the theory is that Old Kinderhook's campaign boosted the expression out of hipster cant into common slang.

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Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00
Shaper
Member # 7420
Profile Homepage #23
That was probably the most important accomplishment in the man's life. Really. Though his facial hair is pretty legendary as well I suppose.

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You lose.
Posts: 2156 | Registered: Thursday, August 24 2006 07:00