Teens are destroying the English language

[Chavi]

People see no incentive in typing 'that' rather then 'dat' which is faster albeit by one letter.

No incentive? What are you talking about? Most kids learn to type from an earlier age. One single letter has no impact on the speed of writing.
Typing up 'that' comes also instinctively to me - as it should to every student in VCE level.

You miss the point, what is the incentive for teenagers used to 'dat' to switch back to 'that' ? You said yourself that it annoys you that people are lazy and write 'dat' instead of 'that' and I told you it was naive as people are lazy, its an innate sort of trait to take the easy way out. As StoneCold also brought up, which I agree with, there could be a conscious effort to sound 'sxc' or 'cool', expressing one's identity. Although I told you in essence you are right, it's quite sad how low the language has come but in 20, 30 years time 'dat' could become an official word: who knows?

I guess we can argue about this all day. What I really lament is that language is slowly losing its meaning. How can we truly convey the complexities of our thoughts and emotions, if every expression of joy is reduced to 'lol'?

[shinny]

People see no incentive in typing 'that' rather then 'dat' which is faster albeit by one letter.

No incentive? What are you talking about? Most kids learn to type from an earlier age. One single letter has no impact on the speed of writing.
Typing up 'that' comes also instinctively to me - as it should to every student in VCE level.

Ever consider that people may choose to consciously spell words differently for group inclusion or to define who they are?  Don't assume they are all just lazy...

Looking dumb as exercise in group belonging? I don't think that many blondes who fit the stereotype do so consciously or for want of notoriety. Likewise in this case.

Wouldn't say so. If you go to my earliest posts (actually I think I deleted quite a lot of them), you'd see that I typed with no caps and missed punctuation etc as well (oh god, I even see a 'ull' there instead of 'you'll'; *shiver*). It wasn't because I was lazy - I can type properly whenever I want to - it was just that I didn't want to come across being too formal or anything in a place filled with teenagers. It's not being 'dumb' when everyone else is doing it - it's fitting in. I change the way I talk frequently depending on who it is and as a general rule of thumb will mirror how they do. It's just simple communication really; talking on the same level that the other person is on to get your point across.

[Chavi]

O.M.G
http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0479030#m_en_gb0479030

[iNerd]

People see no incentive in typing 'that' rather then 'dat' which is faster albeit by one letter.

No incentive? What are you talking about? Most kids learn to type from an earlier age. One single letter has no impact on the speed of writing.
Typing up 'that' comes also instinctively to me - as it should to every student in VCE level.

You miss the point, what is the incentive for teenagers used to 'dat' to switch back to 'that' ? You said yourself that it annoys you that people are lazy and write 'dat' instead of 'that' and I told you it was naive as people are lazy, its an innate sort of trait to take the easy way out. As StoneCold also brought up, which I agree with, there could be a conscious effort to sound 'sxc' or 'cool', expressing one's identity. Although I told you in essence you are right, it's quite sad how low the language has come but in 20, 30 years time 'dat' could become an official word: who knows?

I guess we can argue about this all day. What I really lament is that language is slowly losing its meaning. How can we truly convey the complexities of our thoughts and emotions, if every expression of joy is reduced to 'lol'?

...which I completely agree on, as I stated in my first post, people have even come to the point of saying lol rather then performing the action of laughing which I find quite sad.

[Chavi]

People see no incentive in typing 'that' rather then 'dat' which is faster albeit by one letter.

No incentive? What are you talking about? Most kids learn to type from an earlier age. One single letter has no impact on the speed of writing.
Typing up 'that' comes also instinctively to me - as it should to every student in VCE level.

You miss the point, what is the incentive for teenagers used to 'dat' to switch back to 'that' ? You said yourself that it annoys you that people are lazy and write 'dat' instead of 'that' and I told you it was naive as people are lazy, its an innate sort of trait to take the easy way out. As StoneCold also brought up, which I agree with, there could be a conscious effort to sound 'sxc' or 'cool', expressing one's identity. Although I told you in essence you are right, it's quite sad how low the language has come but in 20, 30 years time 'dat' could become an official word: who knows?

I guess we can argue about this all day. What I really lament is that language is slowly losing its meaning. How can we truly convey the complexities of our thoughts and emotions, if every expression of joy is reduced to 'lol'?

...which I completely agree on, as I stated in my first post, people have even come to the point of saying lol rather then performing the action of laughing which I find quite sad.

LOL. Sends a shiver down my spine when I hear people "LOL" in public.

[chrisjb]

People see no incentive in typing 'that' rather then 'dat' which is faster albeit by one letter.

No incentive? What are you talking about? Most kids learn to type from an earlier age. One single letter has no impact on the speed of writing.
Typing up 'that' comes also instinctively to me - as it should to every student in VCE level.

You miss the point, what is the incentive for teenagers used to 'dat' to switch back to 'that' ? You said yourself that it annoys you that people are lazy and write 'dat' instead of 'that' and I told you it was naive as people are lazy, its an innate sort of trait to take the easy way out. As StoneCold also brought up, which I agree with, there could be a conscious effort to sound 'sxc' or 'cool', expressing one's identity. Although I told you in essence you are right, it's quite sad how low the language has come but in 20, 30 years time 'dat' could become an official word: who knows?

I guess we can argue about this all day. What I really lament is that language is slowly losing its meaning. How can we truly convey the complexities of our thoughts and emotions, if every expression of joy is reduced to 'lol'?

I disagree, I think that enforcing rules and boundaries that cannot be broken and therefore hinder the ability of a language to evolve is far more likely to degrade meaning and emotion. Our new words are not simply grunts or meaningless and shallow expressions, they project and symbolise an entire culture and show how various demographics of society are thinking and feeling as a whole and how this effects their interaction. Just because the culture being represented is popular culture doesn't mean it is an unimportant culture or a shallow culture.

inafter chavi and inerd, but i still wanted to post it.

[dptjandra]

The funny thing is that I find it harder to write in all that colloquial jargon than to just use the full word!  It takes a lot of active thinking for me to write a full comment with all the randon abbreviations ESPECIALLY when the abbreviation contains heaps of letters which aren't even in the original word

[brightsky]

I guess we can argue about this all day. What I really lament is that language is slowly losing its meaning. How can we truly convey the complexities of our thoughts and emotions, if every expression of joy is reduced to 'lol'?

By the time a real 'revolution' in language comes, there would indubitably be a new means of expressing meaning. 'Lol', etc. are just novel forms of expression, and not completely meaningless phrases as you make them out to be. Particularly in regards to the sentiments on the use of 'lol' in public, I wouldn't reckon anyone would've heard 'Fair dinkum, mate', etc. 100 years before. As I said, it's just merely a new form of expression.

[stonecold]

People see no incentive in typing 'that' rather then 'dat' which is faster albeit by one letter.

No incentive? What are you talking about? Most kids learn to type from an earlier age. One single letter has no impact on the speed of writing.
Typing up 'that' comes also instinctively to me - as it should to every student in VCE level.

Ever consider that people may choose to consciously spell words differently for group inclusion or to define who they are?  Don't assume they are all just lazy...

Looking dumb as exercise in group belonging? I don't think that many blondes who fit the stereotype do so consciously or for want of notoriety. Likewise in this case.

Wouldn't say so. If you go to my earliest posts (actually I think I deleted quite a lot of them), you'd see that I typed with no caps and missed punctuation etc as well (oh god, I even see a 'ull' there instead of 'you'll'; *shiver*). It wasn't because I was lazy - I can type properly whenever I want to - it was just that I didn't want to come across being too formal or anything in a place filled with teenagers. It's not being 'dumb' when everyone else is doing it - it's fitting in. I change the way I talk frequently depending on who it is and as a general rule of thumb will mirror how they do. It's just simple communication really; talking on the same level that the other person is on to get your point across.

Thank you for summing up my point. 

[iNerd]

I guess we can argue about this all day. What I really lament is that language is slowly losing its meaning. How can we truly convey the complexities of our thoughts and emotions, if every expression of joy is reduced to 'lol'?

By the time a real 'revolution' in language comes, there would indubitably be a new means of expressing meaning. 'Lol', etc. are just novel forms of expression, and not completely meaningless phrases as you make them out to be. Particularly in regards to the sentiments on the use of 'lol' in public, I wouldn't reckon anyone would've heard 'Fair dinkum, mate', etc. 100 years before. As I said, it's just merely a new form of expression.

'Fair dinkum mate' doesn't stand for anything nor can it be performed. Saying LOL is disgustingly sad considering its meaning is TO LAUGH....so laugh for god's sake.

[Mao]

What's wrong with saying 'lol'? Would you frown if someonesaid ' that's hilarious' instead of laughing?

The current situation is that lol has become more of a word than abbreviation, it's just another way of expressing joy, there's absolutely nothing wrong with english having evolved this way.

Same goes for brb, nfi, omg, stfu, gtfo, my social circle use these ' words' quite frequently in normal conversations.

[iNerd]

What's wrong with saying 'lol'? Would you frown if someonesaid ' that's hilarious' instead of laughing?

The current situation is that lol has become more of a word than abbreviation, it's just another way of expressing joy, there's absolutely nothing wrong with english having evolved this way.

Same goes for brb, nfi, omg, stfu, gtfo, my social circle use these ' words' quite frequently in normal conversations.

What the hell is 'nfi' ?
If you use the expression LOL which stands for LAUGH OUT LOUD that is quite sad: summon the energy to laugh bro? Those who say "that's hilarious" are implying that they don't find it that funny enough to require them to laugh...yet using the expression LOL and actually not performing it makes no sense.

[iNerd]

What's wrong with saying 'lol'? Would you frown if someonesaid ' that's hilarious' instead of laughing?

The current situation is that lol has become more of a word than abbreviation, it's just another way of expressing joy, there's absolutely nothing wrong with english having evolved this way.

Same goes for brb, nfi, omg, stfu, gtfo, my social circle use these ' words' quite frequently in normal conversations.

What the hell is 'nfi' ?
If someone tells you a joke but you don't find it funny enough to laugh you can say " that's hilarious ". However if you use the expression LOL which stands for LAUGH OUT LOUD that is quite sad: summon the energy to laugh bro?

I always thought of lol as having several variations for degrees of hilarity... like a lol scale
lol lolol lololol LOL LOLOL LOLOLOLOLOL

You quoted me before I edited my post, *facepalm*.

[Chavi]

What's wrong with saying 'lol'? Would you frown if someonesaid ' that's hilarious' instead of laughing?

The current situation is that lol has become more of a word than abbreviation, it's just another way of expressing joy, there's absolutely nothing wrong with english having evolved this way.

Same goes for brb, nfi, omg, stfu, gtfo, my social circle use these ' words' quite frequently in normal conversations.

What the hell is 'nfi' ?
If someone tells you a joke but you don't find it funny enough to laugh you can say " that's hilarious ". However if you use the expression LOL which stands for LAUGH OUT LOUD that is quite sad: summon the energy to laugh bro?

I always thought of lol as having several variations for degrees of hilarity... like a lol scale
lol lolol lololol LOL LOLOL LOLOLOLOLOL

until you reach the intensity of ROTFLMAO-copter
you see how ludicrous internet jargon has become? Wait until you start hearing people enunciate this on the street

[brightsky]

Haha I've always treated 'lol' as something between actually laughing and saying 'that's hilarious'. I mean, if you find something genuinely funny, I don't think your laughter would go something like, "LOL ROFLMAO LOLZ!" - you'll actually laugh.