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 2)

adnauseam

on Jan 29, 2007

Slanguage is fine for buddy e-mails, mobile texting (the biggest sinner), and chat rooms but using it for any business or CV use is still "Non-U".

It will not be acceptable in the academic/business sense for many years to come so kids better hone up on their English skills.

yrag

on Jan 29, 2007

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

WTF?....the demise of the English language is now our fault.......???????????

foreverserenity

on Jan 29, 2007

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh....Jafo, what in the heck is that? Alien language?

! That really hurt my eyes, like Kelly said!

You guys have to take it easy on me, some of these things are hard to decipher ya knw, it will take me a couple of tries!

!

And what is 1337-speak anyway? CB radio talk? [asks the clueless one!]

I'm glad you guys liked this article, I enjoyed writing it! I try to stay with the 'in' crowd with three kids of varying ages, one has to try!

pseudosoldier

on Jan 29, 2007

The first hit from a Google search for 1337: the Wikipedia entry

foreverserenity

on Jan 29, 2007

The first hit from a Google search for 1337: the Wikipedia entry

Aha...enlightened! Thx PS!

dynamaso

on Feb 01, 2007

About the only slanguage I use is IMHO, IMO or STFU and even then, I only use them online. I use a few emoticons too, but again, only online. My phone has a built in intuitive dictionary and using slanguage only confuses it. As a wanna-be writer, I refuse to let the English language die quietly. I will continue to murder it in its fullest form.

SanChonino

on Feb 02, 2007

As a wanna-be writer, I refuse to let the English language die quietly. I will continue to murder it in its fullest form.

I already killed it nine times, and now I'm working on ripping Spanish into little, bloody pieces . . .

foreverserenity

on Feb 02, 2007

"Ta ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaa.....not to worry good citizens Super Dynamaso and his side kick Super San Chonino are here to save the English Language!"

! I couldn't resist you guys!

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