Friday, March 6, 2009

Lingo or redefined language ?

We're entering that stage now, where we can truly be called 'Net'izens. We live on the Net. A daily dose of Google, Wikipedia, Youtube, and most importantly, Chat. 8 months ago, I used to chat like once every 2 weeks or so. Now I need a daily dose of G-chat, much to the point where I heard a joke the other day and said out 'LOL' instead of laughing !

Now you must be thinking, ROFL, right ? Or am I the only crazy one here?

A standard chat text might be like something below :

Me : hi man.. ssup.. u in lab nw?
Friend : s.. ssup..
.
.(a long chat ensues)
.
Me : k thn man, gtg
Friend : k.. cya l8r :)
Me : K, bye, gn, tc, sd :)
Friend : gn

Ok, I found just THREE normal English words in there !

Now I really wonder.. is this lingo? Or a whole new language by itself? We could name it Internet English, or 'Intlish'. If the Net is a place where we live, then this bunch of 3 lettered words are surely a language. A language that is now permeating everywhere. A language that I live on so much that my thought process tends to follow Intlish now. And dont u ppl rofl out there.

And not to speak of smileys. They are a whole new different story. I cant resist putting a smiley after every single sentence now, be it a :-), :-P or :-/.. that i get so tired of it. I even use it in blogposts nowadays ! :). No wonder all Chat messengers keep introducing new smileys, environments, themes, and what not.. New ideas towards the makings of a true customizable cyber chat world.

Well I'm not really happy or sad for it. Chat has allowed me to socialize beyond my wildest dreams. I wont say close friends shouldnt chat, but they definitely shouldnt replace face- to- face conversations with chats. Chats bring a sort of 'Internet distance' that can never replace the closeness of a face to face conversation.

So lets not forget the good old and more human way of 'speaking' to communicate :)

Neways.. Signing off.. cya ppl l8r.. bfn..

11 comments:

Harshad said...

gr8 post dude ;)
the other day was using chat lingo while taking down notes. even had a bet with a friend on using a smiley in one of the mid term tests and i did use it ';)'

Mahesh Mahadevan said...

Classis case of how chat/SMS lingo catches up with us, and we start using it in our daily conversations. I have been an advocate of "can't you spell it, dope?" and stick to a minimal set, such as LOL (without voice, I agree it is a terse and more-or-less acceptable way to acknowledge humor). The other thing is - if you are spending enough time on the computer to chat so much, why don't you improve that miserable typing speed and speak English?
Re: smileys, my policy has been to use and innovate. It can't be denied that they have added a dimension to written (or rather, typed) language, which tries to bridge the gap to face-to-face conversation.
Bottom line - there is no substitute for the real thing. If you want to make real conversation, why don't you go out and get a life? :-P

Hari Vishnu said...

@harshad

lol ! yea i remember using chat lingo to take notes too !.. and lol at using it in midterm, i guess that proves that nobody reads answers :)

@mahesh

yea the chat world is what i get down to in the midnight man :).. so hopefully im still not giving away on life.. lets see :-/...

Quest said...

Viruu its time to break the lingo menace, I am expecting your call :-)...will drop my number to your mail ;-)
See I am not affected by this new creole created by usage of lingos going by the full lettered words in the comment, is it not? ;-)

Hari said...

That's indeed a great problem that you've mentioned here. Nevertheless, I use full sentences whenever I type, at least to maintain the sanctity of the language. :D And yeah, at any count, I talk a lot more than I chat.

Using smileys while writing ain't a bad thing, per se. :D

Hari Vishnu said...

@Hari and Viajero

u opportunistic loozers.. both of u seem to be using full sentences in comments now that the topic is on lingo :)..

and yea hari, probably theres nothing wrong in using smileys.. i used smileys in my mails to professors nowadays :)

Abhi said...

Gr8 post dude! :). Couldn't help bt go ROFL over the LOL thngy :)

Neethu said...

yea, true...even i 'lol' at times in btn normal conversation, insterad of actually laughing
....and smileys have become so handy that, i use 'em often to exactly convey my mood, esp while talking over the phone;)

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Dorm Bedding said...

I swear, I still type out almost every word in texts - just can't get used to shortening my words.

Dorm Bedding said...

Drives me nuts when I read posts & words aren't written out completely - def a sign of the times :)