September 25, 2012
-
Hate To Abbreviate
Man, I have really grown to hate abbreviations. It’s not that I hate the traditional abbreviations. Shit it just makes sense to abbreviate certain words in certain situations, like doctor or street or things like that. And it is not like I hate to shorten longs words like miscellaneous to something shorter like misc. All of the above makes sense. Or even to shorten proper names, like how the Philadelphia 76ers become the 6ers. No what drives me nuts is the text message abbreviations. And it is not even the fact that they are abbreviated in text messages. I’m not a big fan of that, but I do it myself from time to time; it is totally understandable if you are trying to text something quickly. No what drives me nuts is that this is how fucking people talk nowadays!
Maybe this is a sign of me getting old, but why the fuck do people have to say OMG instead of oh my God. Or how about WTF. Come on man, you are taking a perfectly cool phrase with the mother of all bad words and turning it into a douchey saying. Look if you are going to use the word fuck than, really use it; don’t fuck with fuck. Obviously if you are using the phrase WTF than you have good reason to actually use the word fuck, so why sell your anger, disgust, excitement, or happiness short by not going through with it and actually saying the word fuck. Fuck. I mean it’s such a great fucking word. When you abbreviate and not actually say the word, well, that’s swearing abuse. My mother would be ashamed if she heard me talk like that; after all the word fuck had to be among her two or three favorite words in any language.
But by far and away the one that really annoys the ever living shit out of me is LOL. Yes, I use that phrase in texts. And I use it in email. And I use it in an IM. I use it in just about every type possible. But, you know where I don’t use it? In person. Somebody asked me today if I ever said that and I said “no, you know what I use instead? I actually physically laugh”. See that is the way you express laughter. You actually laugh. I know, novel thought ain’t it? I gotta wonder about the direction our society is going in if instead of laughing at something, we just say LOL. Shit, it’s not LOL if you are not actually, you know, laughing the fuck out loud. And the worst part about it is that it is not bad enough that this type of shorthand language is popular among teens, it’s that it has seeped into the vocabulary (or should I say lack of vocabulary) of adults. And not just young adults. I mean like people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. Teens sound stupid talking like that; when adults do it they sound beyond fucking stupid; they sound rigoddamndiculous. Honestly, I think if you are an adult and you are caught speaking like that, you should start to lose certain adult privileges. Like drinking. Or gambling. Or voting. Then again, a lot of drunk people can’t formulate a sentence anyway so maybe speaking in abbreviations is a step up for them. No no, I’m totally right on this, no self respecting adult should ever speak like this.
Comments (8)
I think I posted something like this a year ago, and then I found myself commenting and writing things like ppl, txt, OMG! The one I hate hate hate (and sometimes use) is LOL.
Have you ever watched Curb Your Enthusiasm? There is one where an obnoxious middle aged woman says LOL in lieu of really laughing. Seriously one of the funniest hours of TV I have ever watched!
that’s awesome:) I agree with you about all the stupid abbreviations. I am 17, and I text on a regular basis, but one thing I NEVER do is abbreviate what I have to say. it just sounds stupid. I don’t even abbreviate in texts, or IM or in email. It sounds lazy and extremely unprofessional. I’ve gotten to the point where if someone says LOL around me in person, I stop talking to them and walk off, or if its a text, I never respond back. my philosophy on that is “if your going to be to lazy to finish your sentence, then I am going to be to lazy to even start mine”.
What really gets on my nerves though is when people write LOL and other crap like that down on tests and exams. If I was their teacher, I would fail them.
lawllllllllll
UGH! It irritates me so much!!
I am definitely guilty of the ‘lol’ at the end of a sentence. I look at it as a little snort of funniness or a way for them to know you are teasing. I sometimes realize I’ve used it a ton and I try to stop.
@BoulderChristina - I LOVE Curb Your Enthusiasm. I think it is the funniest show on tv. And I forgot all about that episode when I wrote this post; I was mainly reacting to what somebody told me yesterday. I don’t know if that was the same episode in which he gets in an arugument with his girlfriend over the smiley face and they break up right while she is putting sunscreen on his head and she gets revenge by putting in on in the shape of a smiley face so that later on he has a smiley face burnt into his bald head.
@jordon@revelife - thanks for the comment. I never abbreviate in emails and rarely do it in texts especially when the iPhone finishes the word for you.. I do abbreviate in IM at work because i’m frequently having to chat with multiple people at once while I’m on the phone
@wildchildofthebluemoon - thanks for the comment.
@PennyLumpkins - oh nothing wrong with using it at the end of a written sentence (or text), hell I do the same thing for precisely the same reason, I want them to know I’m kidding. But, SAYING lol instead of actually laughing? I just don’t get that one.