Slang-uage– OMG, LOL, TTYL

Teen-speak now offline

Published on January 28, 2007 By foreverserenity In Living in Cyberspace

Computer-keyboard slang by teens is now being used offline. It was the funniest thing when my daughter told me the incident of a classmate of hers who did an essay and used nothing but computer slang words in the essay! They had a good laugh, I laughed but then I said to myself, “but why?”

I told her that you see how important it is spelling and knowing the right words; vocabulary IS important! That was some time last year.

This year, I’ve been hearing about it on the various news programs or reading about it in the newspaper, wherein teens using computer jargons that they text to each other and talk online are now ending up in school papers and in real life.

The teachers don’t think this is funny at all. Neither do I. How are they going to function in real life, learn to spell, use vocabulary in the right way? The news programs even mentioned that employers have received applications with these shorthand spelling!

I’m not beating up on this new way of communicating, not at all. In fact, I’m guilty of using it too, but only ONLINE! When I, Text Message, in using my IM online, or in my blogs or responding to blogs when I speak to you guys, that’s it!

Can you imagine how ridiculous I would look writing like that in a letter I send out to a client or even in speaking to my co-workers? LOL! Hehehe…..

I’ve even read where teens are actually speaking like a keyboard – you know when you do the dashes and colons to make smileys or expressions? Yes, the same way! They actually verbally say “Colon dash parenthesis”!

Who in the world has time to speak that way? Obviously they do! ROFL! Or how about “Dash underscore dash” when someone is mad at the other,

to glare; or “Colon Capitol P” to stick your tongue out;

!

To a teen it isn’t strange to speak this way “JK, sry, brb”; i.e., (just kidding, sorry, be right back). That’s their quick easy way of communicating with each other and that’s OK.

As a young teen, my friends and I used to speak a language, I think it’s referred to as ‘pig-Latin’, but in Jamaica it was a little different because of our Patois. We also had three different versions of it and we would have fun talking to our friends and siblings that way, sometimes confusing our parents!

It seems every generation has their own ‘secret’ jargon! To teens this is their fun and exciting way to be ‘in’ with each other and not let us parents or adults be ‘in’ too much on their teen speak!

However, if you’re a parent with a teen or pre-teen, knowing how to decipher their talk is your business, just to keep abreast of what’s going on in their lives….so you can snoop on them! JK!!! Well, maybe just a little! LOL!

One word of advice for you parents and adults out there don’t try to talk like your teen. Nope, that just won’t do. Not only would it look silly coming out of your mouth, but you might just be speaking slangs that are no longer in use! Yes, passé, old news…and that wouldn’t look good at all!

For now I’ll just stick with the LOLs and ROFLs and OMGs and of course the innocuous smileys now and again….but not too much of those smileys though, they can be so lame!

TTYL! (Talk to you later!)

_________- Some information from an article written by Michelle Quinn of the San Jose Mercury News, article - "A computer-keyboard slang for teenagers moves offline" reprinted in the Orlando Sentinel December 28, 2005 - assisted me in writing my article!

Comments (Page 1)

InBloom

on Jan 28, 2007

I haven't seen this in my students' writings yet, but I won't be surprised if I do sometime soon!

BTW, GTR, but HAGD.

(hope you can decipher that one...lol).

Dr Guy

on Jan 28, 2007

We all use Slanguage. In the internet. But woe be to those who use it when trying to get a job. Slanguage is fine in its place. Not when that place is the interaction with others on a professional level (or even a generational one),

scorpNZ

on Jan 28, 2007

Way ahead of you there,here in NZ shorthand text like that is allowed in school tests,kinda explains why kids today can't read or spell

SanChonino

on Jan 28, 2007

I’m not beating up on this new way of communicating, not at all.

I am. I hate it. Even when I text, I spell out every word. I don't use "u", I write "you". No "ur", it's your or you're. It drives me crazy when I get a text entirely in slang stuff. Oh well. That's just me being anal.

SanChonino

on Jan 28, 2007

BTW, GTR, but HAGD.

By The Way, Gots To Run, but Have A Good Day.

Am I on, Rose?

Jythier

on Jan 28, 2007

me 2 imho ol speak is stupid y can't ppl spell out words y isn't punctuation used nemore no1 knows

SirSmiley

on Jan 28, 2007

tg idk

Zoologist03

on Jan 28, 2007

Don't get me started on this crap...I try to refrain for getting sucked into that hell hole of horrible grammar and spelling. I use the occasional "lol" or "j/k" here and there...but I try and keep all my other words straight and normal. Having teen friends('cause I'm still a teen myself.

) I sometimes cannot figure out what the hell they just wrote. For instance, sometimes people post crap on myspace(not a favorite site, but some of my friends are on there) and I feel like I'm translating some weird version of English that was written by a barely literate person...it's irritating, especially wasting your life reading something that may or may not be important but getting to the end and being as clueless as you were at the beginning. AAAAAAHHHHH! *hrm*

Anyway...I've heard some people at my high school were turning in some papers with that crap in it...I want to smack them and say, "BAD...BAD CHILD!" Oh well...when they fill out a job application and put "OMG" on it...then they'll see.

wow...dis wuz an awsum artcle...2 bad sooooo many kidz lik 2 writ all dis crap...

Z ZOMG !!!11!!!1!!!

Yeah...when I see writing like that, a part of me dies inside.

~Zoo

pseudosoldier

on Jan 28, 2007

It's interesting. The generally younger people who would put that sort of thing in non-online or official correspondence will only face prejudice if the recipient isn't of a similar bent as them. When these sorts of younger people get into positions where they are receiving the job applications (do you think this could happen without them adjusting their perception of this txt speak?), will they show a similar prejudice?

BTW, I'm guilty of using STFU and n00b in actual speach, usually in conjunction with each other.

HTH. HAND.

MasonM

on Jan 28, 2007

I guess it's considered 1337 to use text-speak these days.

pseudosoldier

on Jan 28, 2007

Oh! And my father saw some 1337-speak I had scrawled out in a notebook as I was trying to figure out how to write "Merry Christmas" and was startled that I was using gang tags in my notebook. Seems the local constabulary had given some talks about how gangs are tagging like that... these are the same local cops that cited 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide as an occult text for cultish gangs, however.

Jafo

on Jan 28, 2007

Then there's.....

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4NYw4y...1'Ve H34Rd $0m3 Pe0PLE 4+ mY h19H 5Ch00l w3r3 TuRnING IN $OM3 paP3r$ w1+H tHa+ CR@P 1N I+...I wAn+ to 5M4Ck +h3m 4ND 5Ay, "84D...b4D Ch1lD!" 0H WeLL...WH3N TH3Y F1LL 0ut 4 JOb 4PPL1c4T1on 4ND PUT "0m9" ON 1t...+hEn TH3Y'LL 5ee.

wOw...D1$ wuZ 4n 4W5uM 4RTcLE...2 B@D 50OoO0 M4ny KiDz l1K 2 Wr1T 4Ll D15 cr@P...Z z0M9 !!!11!!!1!!!

y3@H...WH3N 1 SEe WrI+iNg lIK3 Th4+, 4 P@rt 0PH M3 D1E$ IN$iD3.

Let's face it....English 'died' when it went offshore, couple'a hundred years before the Net...

Bloody Colonialism....

Zoologist03

on Jan 28, 2007

Then there's.....

Heh...I can still basically read that.

Took a few seconds to figure out it was mine.

~Zoo

SilentPoet

on Jan 28, 2007

Rarely do I use slanguage offline.

I don't see anything wrong with it, as long as the kids are still understanding/learning basic grammar, punctuation and the like. Heck, I can vouch for being in a hurry, and needing to contact someone. So, I sent them a text message, using slanguage. It's simple, easy to use, and fast. (Doesn't mean it is legible, or the like.)

It's all about how fast you can do something. Convenience, speed, and quantity seems to be the only things some folks care about.

Peace, ~L

KellyW0498

on Jan 28, 2007

mercy
that hurts my eyes.

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