More than LOL and OMG
Contrary to what many befuddled adults may think, the phenomenon of “Internet speak” is more than an “ostensibly alien code”[1] of long-winded abbreviations, nor is it the death of grammar and the downfall of language. Neither is it solely a more facile way of communicating, as shown in the “IDK my BFF Jill” 2007 AT&T commercial. In fact, it is an inevitable movement due to the rise of technology: it is our language in necessary flux. While many scoff at “Internet speak” and believe it to be the downfall and degeneration of the English language, it is instead an evolution of the written word, a manipulation of letters which allows us to express ideas that could not previously be expressed.
The Internet has undoubtedly shortened words and cropped some off entirely so that they are no more than their first letter, yet these abbreviations have managed to become entities of their own with completely unique meanings. While I myself have trouble decoding INBD or TISNF,[2] though with some difficulty I can work out that they stand for “it’s no big deal” and “this is so not funny,” others, however, have successfully become their own entity and have become second nature to Internet users. Beyond OMG (oh my god) and LOL (laughing out loud), two more prominent examples are “ilysm” (“I love you so much”) and “tbh” (“to be honest”), as demonstrated in the following text post on the popular blogging website Tumblr, with about 45,000 likes or reblogs (notes):
[3] “Ilysm” and “tbh” are no longer abbreviations but entities of their own, perhaps “our future wedding vows.” But if you were to say “ilysm tbh” (meaning “I love you so much, to be honest”) on your wedding day, would the abbreviations carry the same weight as the English words themselves? The answer is of course not, as “ilysm tbh” means something entirely different: it is an entirely different expression of affection, perhaps lighter as one you might type out to an Internet friend but nonetheless stark, brief, and honest. Additionally, the creation of “ilysm tbh” has more significance if one chooses to use the entire phrase “I love you so much, to be honest.” The shorter creation serves dual purpose: it is not simply an entity of its own, but changes the meaning of the original entity.
Preexisting English words have also, through Internet culture, evolved to also become their own separate entities and to express new concepts previously inexpressible in the English language. Many started ironically, such as “5ever” in the place of “forever” or “4ever” and “gr9” in the place of “great” or “gr8,” and are now in wide and barely ironic usage; 5ever is meant to signify a longer amount of time than 4ever, which is an impossible concept, and gr9 a clever expression signifying better than gr8.
As one Tumblr user wrote in the following post that gained over 108,000 notes
[4], such Internet-shortened words are used deliberately, artfully and by no means as solely an excuse to type fewer characters. For example, the word “doge” is often used as a pet name in place of “dog” on the Internet (i.e. look at this cute doge.) When read, most pronounced it “dohge,” until a text post
[5] revealed the pronunciation to be “dog-ee.” Regardless, “dohge” had been so ingrained in Internet users’ vocabularies that over 40,000 users liked or reblogged the post in order to express their surprise that such a familiar term was all of a sudden completely wrong: in short, the pronunciation of “dohge” had become its own entity. Another widely used form in Internet speech is the concept of “keysmashing,” or randomly pressing keys to express excitement, yet there is also a precise way to communicate the random smashing of keys to strictly portray one’s emotions as accurately as possible. As one Tumblr user notes,
[6] In short, from “gr9” to “pls” to “doge” to “kshjrbtbtjjdh,” the Internet has added words to our language to express previously inexpressible concepts: longer than forever, a new pet word for canines and the idea that there are literally no words possible to express one’s excitement — in a word.
Perhaps the most significant part of Internet speak, and perhaps the one criticized most, is the lack of proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Instead, the misuse of spelling, grammar, and punctuation has instead contributed to the formation of new meanings. In the following post,
[7] misspellings and misuse of grammar such as “i m soryr” is actually able to imitate the state of the person’s nervousness. Often, misspelling and misuse of grammar is able to imitate shyness or nerves, such as in the post
[8] which has 49,415 notes on Tumblr. Of course, there are many incorrect aspects to this statement: how can you only talk 1.5 times? “Time” and “friend” should both be plural, as there should be no space in “ar e.” But “if we’ve talked 2 times we are friends” simply does not have the same hesitant, apprehensive quality. By implementing incorrect grammar, the person is able to convey that they hope the person they have only sparsely talked to considers them a friend too. Similarly, a 77,000+ note post reveals the meaning of capitalization:
[9] This demonstrates how the rules of capitalization are broken to convey meaning. Tumblr user “copperbooms” asks, in a 175,000+ note post
[10] Not only does the lack of punctuation indicate a stream-of-consciousness style, mimicking the way we think, but also allows punctuation, as well as grammar and capitalization, to be more significant when one chooses to actually implement it.
Throughout all of Internet speak, something that is extremely difficult to convey over text, and therefore something that has been perhaps the most developed by this evolution of language, is tone. One post with 140,000+ notes indiciates
[11]. Many words and abbreviations began ironically or sarcastically and then caught on. As in posts like
[12] with over 189,000 notes, the use of “u” and “ur” conveys a playful, non-serious tone, rather than simply a lazy attempt to shorten the phrase. Misspellings portray a shy, unsure, fumbling tone, capitalization usually conveys some level of shouting, a combination of both portrays humor. “Ok” is more blunt than “okay,” and therefore essentially the same definition of the same word is given two different meanings due to spelling.
Overall, the misuse of grammar in Internet speak is not an attempt to degenerate the English language, but a cleverly constructed craft due to the function of the printed word in technology. On the Internet, we are forced to read differently than ever before, to construe tone in our head, and to craft our language to best convey ideas. One may wonder why it is necessary to break down our language after so many years of proper grammar in novels and writings; however, we do not communicate on an everyday basis in novels and writings. Fitzgerald did not write like Shakespeare who did not write as Chaucer did. The Internet causes us to find the quickest and most direct ways to communicate, even using the concepts of reaction images such as a happy-looking dog to express the feeling “when u friend gte onlin”[13]
or reaction gifs,a very brief video played in a repeating loop, in place of words. But if a misspelled phrase or picture of a happy dog can convey a precise emotion better than a set of words, is that not more precisely accomplishing the goal of language to convey one’s thoughts most exactly? Internet and text speak is much more than the “mastery of a verbal code so inscrutable it requires subtitles,”[14] it is more an “infectious new form of speech play.”[15] It is an inevitable change of language which may allow us to better express ourselves beyond what the previous confines of grammar and language ever allowed us to do.
[1] Jones, G. M. & Schieffelin, B. B. (2009). Talking text and talking back: ‘My BFF Jill’ from Boob Tube to YouTube. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14,1050.
[2] Talking text. 1063
[3] http://beedriller.tumblr.com/post/60605491796/real-talk-ilysm-tbh
[4] http://yanxxx.tumblr.com/post/28538851300/seapantsu-i-started-saying-shit-like-u-pls
[5] http://sneakyfeets.tumblr.com/post/60211515040/i-cant-believe-youre-supposed-to-pronounce
[6] http://seblaine.tumblr.com/post/18765469602/sometimes-i-keysmash-and-im-like-jsbsjsjdndh-and
[7] http://arkhams.tumblr.com/post/51242129371/hey-so-uhh-looks-at-notecards-did-you-uh
[8] http://volvagina.tumblr.com/post/47341939562/if-weve-talked-1-5-time-we-ar-e-friend
[9] http://gerardgay.tumblr.com/post/15062485580
[10] http://copperbooms.tumblr.com/post/28333799478/when-did-tumblr-collectively-decide-not-to-use
[11] http://yunglifecrisis.tumblr.com/post/45447678482
[12] http://17yr.tumblr.com/post/59995886077
[13] http://shychiaichi.tumblr.com/post/56800248856/when-u-friend-gte-onlin
[14] Talking text. 1056
[15] Talking text. 1058
