It is interesting to notice colloquialisms that have merged themselves into common vernacular through only means of the Internet. Selfie, Meme and LOL to name a few; these words have no meaning outside the scope of the Internet nor do they limit themselves to a language or geography (Words for LOL in other languages include MDR in French (mort de rire, die of laughing) and WWW in Japanese (from the word for laughing, warai, though sometimes you just see a bunch of 笑笑笑)) These words connect our societies - it is even more interesting today to know that people make friends father away often before ever making them with their next door neighbors. Take an apartment building for example - while its neighbors will eventually meet when leaving or entering at the same time it is no longer a custom to welcome anyone into a residence, it is no longer normal to introduce yourself to people in the building. It is however very normal to form a network of friends and people you have never met before who live miles away sometimes even continents away. This new manner of communication is very different wether better or worse is up to interpretation. It lends to very impersonal exchanges - people are less apt to share their secrets and hopes with one another because they are distrusting since everyone, sometimes even their closest friend is still just a stranger. It also limits interaction since it can only occur on the basis of online status - you can’t exactly knock on your Facebook friends door and ask for a cup of sugar. In the same way though if you wish to be left alone going offline is good enough for that, and if you wish to find solace in conversation you can do so at any hour of the day since you can connect with people in different time zones. The language of the internet breeds its own sense of manners and etiquette very different from the ones of our parents or their parents. It is something our generation and certainly the ones after us are much more comfortable with - we see it as much better than that of our parents while our parents would say the same of us.
Out of curiosity I looked up other countries versions of LOL
Israel: חחח/ההה (khkhkh) - which is taken to sound like laughter (much like hahaha)
Sweden: asg - sort for asgarv which means intense laughter (much like www)
China: 哈哈哈 (hahaha) - literally pronounced as hahaha
Latin America: jajajá - hahaha with emphasis at the end
Middle East: هههههههههههه (hhhhhhhhhh) - equivalent to hahaha
Brazil: kkkkkkkkkk or rsrsrsrsrs (couldn’t find why)
Korea: ㅋㅋㅋ and ㅎㅎㅎ (hehehe or hahaha sound)
Thailand: 555 - this one is really interesting, apparently 5 is pronounced as “ha” so they abbreviated hahaha to 555
Russia: xa xa, хи хи, гы-гы and бу-гы-га-га (couldn’t find why)
Greece: ΛΟΛ
Nigeria: LWKM and LWKMD - translates to “laugh wan kill me” and “laugh wan kill me dead” (I still don’t get it)
ha3 - this wasn’t given a country but apparently it is popular in "Malaysia and the Arab world” and it stands for “ha”x3 or hahaha
I liked the topic of your post. It is interesting to think how different languages, social ques, and mannerisms have developed from the internet and digital technologies. A concern of mine has always been is it making us dumber. The language and abbreviations that are used online and in messaging have also become part of our verbal language. I hear people all the time say "JK", "LOL", "IDK" and so on. I guess my question is, is this a bad thing? Should we be replacing our words with acronyms? Is this a reflection of our obsession with the internet?
ReplyDeleteAs for the impact on our social skills, I think social media has also done some harm. We are sitting behind a computer screen instead of going out into the world and talking to people. We are obsessing over how "liked" we are instead of actually figuring out if people enjoy our company. In the end I think it is a cool tool to connect people all over the world but it could be used better.
While l have some different thoughts on the topic, I liked your post and its humorous tone and hey now I know how to say LOL a lot of different ways.
To reply just to the first part of your post (I completely agree with thoughts in the later parts) - I don't believe that the shift to using acronyms or other forms of speech are making us dumber, in fact I see this as natural progression of a language over time. Words (and I say words for a reason) such as JK and IDK and LOL all have meaning that can be understood by the vast majority of English speaking society ( and likewise other terms for other cultures ). Just as many other colloquialisms have come about, acronyms and shorter words are created because it is easier to say them or in cases, type them. There are even niche words that appear like gg[nore] (good game [no repeat/replay/rematch]) for online gamers. I know as well in other languages this happens often with loan words (words which are taken from other languages and adapted to local culture) such as japanese words aircon (air conditioner) combini (convenience store) and apart (apartment) (as a few of many many examples) - words are changed in this way not just through the Internet but just though human interaction whether in person on in digital form, and I don't see any problem with this change.
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