"Lolspeak" drives me nuts

[K9soul]

Ok, I may be in the minority about this as I often am on such things, but the new 'fad' of lolspeak drives me absolutely nuts and I just have to get it off my chest. Maybe it's because I have worked as an editor, and now as a transcriptionist; have been an avid reader and listener of song prose all my life and love the beauty of well communicated language.

Lolspeak seemed to become the thing when the website, icanhascheezburger, used this type of speaking to caption photos, but now it seems to have exploded and I feel like I am seeing it more and more everywhere I go on the net: blogs, message boards, youtube, etc. I did not think much about it when I saw it here and there, but since it has become such a popular thing to do, it has become like nails on chalkboard to me LOL.

I realize to a lot of people it's cute/funny and not a big deal. For folks who may wonder what in the world I am talking about, "lolspeak" is the deliberate use of improper grammar and misspelling, I think intended to be humorous, but in my opinion becoming overused and overdone.

Now I know, some may feel I need to lighten up. But we all have our peeves and this one happened to be niggling at me enough lately to vent it ;).

[Taz_Zoee]

I agree with you. I think this way of "talking" started with texting. So you didn't have to type out all the letters on the phone. But people are now using it everywhere. I don't even use it while texting, except the LOL part. I get texts from my niece and it takes a minute to understand what she is saying.

[kuhio98]

Drives me nuts too. Seems most people think it's cute and funny, but I just think it's dumb. (I also think the pets on icancheezeburger are better spellers than their families who post their photos). :p :D

[K9soul]

It isn't so much acronyms, like LOL or ROFL etc. It's things like "I iz hungry" and "I takez ur cake"

I do know that texting kinda started its own type of typing with shortened words, letters and numbers though. Which I don't mind being used when texting, understandable to not have to key in so much, and I don't mind acronyms used.

[RobiLee]

I say go Jess! I'm with you on this one. It also drives me nuts. I find it hard to follow. Maybe its my age. I don't know. All I know is that it just drives me crazy. I really don't understand the whole thing and sometimes i find it hard to follow. I know we have talked about if for awhile but I'm so glad that you spoke up and said something. Way to go, Jess!

[Pam]

Agree totally! The only ones who should be speaking like this are Phred and Chopper! :) ;) :cool:

[lizbud]

Agree totally! The only ones who should be speaking like this are Phred and Chopper! :) ;) :cool:


:D :D


I never really run into it much, but I don't frequent blogs,U tube,etc.. :)

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Fox news ran a report Friday about how the text shorts like u for you and " r u" for "are you" are being used by students in reports and stuff. If I were a teacher, they would be warned once then made to do the papers over and marked down a grade point. People are just getting so lazy! :rolleyes:

[chocolatepuppy]

Some of that 'speak' that I'm unable to translate easily, I just give up. ;)

[K9soul]

It's actually even kinda different from Phred's "dawg talk" too. It does seem to kinda mingle the texting talk in with it to a degree, but also just deliberate misspellings such as "bai" for bye, "hai" for hi.

I found this "guide" to lolspeak:

Step one: Think of something to say.

Step two: “Engrish” it.

1) Mis-decline verbs, especially misuse the verb “to be”
2) Misuse gerunds
3) Overuse prepositional phrases
4) Blatant rearrangement of syntax
5) Incorrect plurals and past-tense verbs
6) “noun” your adjectives. (For instance, the adjective “blue” can become the noun “blueness”)
7) Improper pronouns
8 ) Drop the articles (”a”, “and”, “the”) in favor of adding “-age” to the end of a noun
9) Use “younger” words (”kitty” versus “cat”, “fuzzy” versus “furry”, etc.)
10) Use the word “with” inappropriately.
11) If you really can’t wrap your head around the concepts behind “Engrish”, try this: Go to babelfish.altavista.com, type your desired comment in, hit “english-to-Japanese”, then re-translate back to English. You have to be able to view special characters (the kanji). If you can’t get that to work, try translating to a different, european-text language, like German.

Step Three: Misspell words

Example:

Normal speak
“The cat has a bow on his head!”

Lolspeak
“Kitteh gots bowage on hims hedz!”


Here is also a lolspeak wiki page... http://speaklolspeak.com/?t=anon

I have seen lolspeak popping up more and more on PT, maybe some lolspeakers here could explain it better :D

[Lady's Human]

No need to explain it, when I see it I just move on.

If it's not important enough for the poster to spell and use proper grammar, it's not important enough for me to read. (Note.....this is specifically directed at "leetspeak" users, and NOT directed at people who do not speak or write English as a native language.)

[K9soul]

By the way, the term "lolspeak" that is actually what it has come to be called. It has nothing to do with acronyms, LOL and IMO for example. The icanhascheezburger site called their photos lolcats. And thus the way of speaking there became called lolspeak.

[carole]

my apologies, i should have read all the post's and i obviously mis-understood, i have deleted my original post. :)

[Catsnclay]

No need to explain it, when I see it I just move on.

If it's not important enough for the poster to spell and use proper grammar, it's not important enough for me to read. (Note.....this is specifically directed at "leetspeak" users, and NOT directed at people who do not speak or write English as a native language.)

I can't agree more!

My delete button is getting a LOT of use lately!!

If you can't use the language correctly, then don't use it at all!

[.sarah]

Well I guess I will be the first to say that I find it hilarious. :)

[Karen]

Except when it is a "pet" posting, like Chopper, Cinder and Smokey, and other animals - which makes it easy to differentiate between the "pet" typing and his or her human speaking, I tend to PM people and ask them to spell things out. I can only do that on Pet Talk, though! I am not moderator for the whole world, just this corner of it!

[Kfamr]

Well I guess I will be the first to say that I find it hilarious. :)


I knew there was a reason we get along so well. ;)

To those who don't like it... don't bother looking at my signature. :D

[RobiLee]

I knew there was a reason we get along so well. ;)

To those who don't like it... don't bother looking at my signature. :D


I will be the first to admit that I didn't get your siggy. Like I said I am an old fogey though and thougt it strange. So I won't bother looking ....lol ;)

[Kfamr]

Oh well!

[K9soul]

When I first saw the lolspeak stuff, mainly from pictures posted from the icanhascheezburger site, I didn't think much of it, even chuckled at a few. And then it just seemed to suddenly explode! Now it seems like it is everywhere I look! Perhaps it's the volume of it that is driving me nuts now. Or maybe it's that I see and hear so much butchering of the English language every day, even from doctors dictating patient charts, that I don't feel any hilarity at it.

That all said, it certainly doesn't send me into a flying rage :p. I just have been :eek: how much I have seen it explode within the past few weeks and thought I'd comment!

[carole]

Thanks Kay-ann i finally get what everyone is talking about now, i am not really bothered,as I don't come across it really, but i can see the point where it might just grate on one's nerve's after a while,each to their own I guess.

[CathyBogart]

.....Am I the only one who spends a fair amount of time speaking like that in real life? Mostly just when I'm being silly with my future hubby, but still...heh...

[jennielynn1970]

It drives me nuts trying to decipher it. It's like when they were teaching inventive spelling at school. UGH!!! I'm definitely one for correct grammar and spelling, and the "cutesy" crap drives me nuts, unless it's Chopper and the rest of the pets ;) With people, they just need to speak normally, lol.

[IRescue452]

Try walking through the hallways at the school you clean and listening to the preteens actually speak like this. One day an excited girl yelled "O M G" to one of her friends and I almost died laughing (though crying on the inside).

[lady_zana]

I find it funny when it's on the LOLcats.....the silly words are part of what makes the captions funny. When it is on message boards and such though, I don't like it either. I never liked 'leetspeak' and other internet talk. I think it's silly.

A few like - LOL - or IMO - or BRB - are okay but when people start "wut r u doing?" or 'i rox hard' it drives me crazy....I even get annoyed when people don't capitalize "I" though....I guess it's the English major in me!

If I was a teacher and a student used leetspeak or LOLspeak in a paper, I'd fail them! I might give them the chance to do it over but that would be it - one chance.

[columbine]

Sometimes it makes for good jokes. I remember one photo of a huge dog licking a tiny kitten, captioned "I is a LOLcat, not a LOLlipop!"

Love, Columbine

[cloverfdx]

It drives me insane, it is everywhere these days :(.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Woohoo! I am officially a fogey!! Gives me a headache trying to decipher it

[Daisy and Delilah]

Agree totally! The only ones who should be speaking like this are Phred and Chopper! :) ;) :cool:

Thanks for the big laugh, Pam!!!

I agree totally. Our future generations won't be able to correctly say or spell the simplest of words. It might be my age too but I think it's nothing but harmful :(

Kay: I didn't see your signature until you pointed it out. I have to say, I can figure it out, now that you bring it up :D I'm 100 years old and it shows. :eek:

[momoffuzzyfaces]

:D You know what? It reminds me of baby talk! :D
Woogy woogy woo!!! :D :D :D

[Suki Wingy]

I too find it funny, it's my kind of humour. I will get quite annoyed when I see improper grammar when it is a mistake, but I like making fun of those kind of mistakes with lolspeak. I also like the idea that there are many different types of language and my friends and I like to see how far we can take it and still understand each other, it's pretty funny sometimes.

Oh, and I do incorporate that type of language as well as Buffy and Firefly quotes into my daily speech, although certainly not in a paper or speaking to the dean or anything.

[Jessika]

I do not mind it at all when it's ON the LOLcats photos, because well, that's what makes lolcats lolcats ;)

But when you're a normal human being trying to have a conversation with another human being via typing, I find it to be ridiculous to try to decipher. When I was younger maybe I could spend more time trying to figure it out, but with me being back in school I can't afford to fry many more brain cells -- I need them all!

Aside from a few exceptions (when it's a "pet" talking versus their "human") I don't mind it here and there.

And I am not referring to JUST "LOL speak", I'm referring to 1nt3rn37 5p34k also. On myspace, facebook, etc... it literally give me a HEADACHE trying to figure it out, and if those people are my friends, I delete them because it just... drives me nuts.

And I'm a grammar/spelling freak too, for the most part. LOL

[k9krazee]

.....Am I the only one who spends a fair amount of time speaking like that in real life? Mostly just when I'm being silly with my future hubby, but still...heh...

Guilty! :D

[BC_MoM]

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff73/jdmh89/molly_cuteness3.jpg

[K9karen]

Agree totally! The only ones who should be speaking like this are Phred and Chopper! :) ;) :cool:

:D :D Ain't that the troof? (sorry couldn't resist)

[finn's mom]

I don't fret over it, it doesn't drive me bananas...but I don't like it, either. I'm not a fan of the pet speak or baby talk, either. I find myself skipping those posts for the most part.

I think it's funny on the silly cat photos, but that's about it.

I text all the time, but I still use proper grammar, hahaha. I don't think I've ever used LOL. <-- Except for maybe right then. ;)

[Twisterdog]

I completely agree. It is beyond irritating to me.

My step-daughter sends me text message that I can barely decipher. And the majority of words she misspells/misuses don't really save her any time or keystrokes anyway. For example, why type "lyke" instead of "like", or "iz" instead of "is"? It's just silly.

If one is TRULY too busy to type the word "you", perhaps one should opt for a phone call instead of a text or email message.

[cloverfdx]

For example, why type "lyke" instead of "like", or "iz" instead of "is"? It's just silly.
That is what i dont understand, both words contain the same amount of letters why not just spell the word the correct way.

Someone mentioned it reminds them of baby talk, i cannot agree more. Ok it might be understandable coming from small children, but when grown adults are 'talking' in 'lolspeak' it is just irritating.

[Daisy and Delilah]

I completely agree. It is beyond irritating to me.

My step-daughter sends me text message that I can barely decipher. And the majority of words she misspells/misuses don't really save her any time or keystrokes anyway. For example, why type "lyke" instead of "like", or "iz" instead of "is"? It's just silly.

If one is TRULY too busy to type the word "you", perhaps one should opt for a phone call instead of a text or email message.

Good point!

For the most part, I believe Pet Talkers that use this "speak" use it for the fun of it. I know we have an intelligent group of young people here that are grammar and spelling savvy. I just worry about the real young kids that haven't honed their spelling skills yet. I hope it doesn't turn into an upcoming generation of speak spellers :confused:

Does anyone know why the words aren't spelled correctly when they have the same amount of letters(like Twisterdog said)? is - iz

[carole]

I guess they figure they don't need to know how to spell with using computers these day's for everything with spell checker's, but yes it is a shame to see the english language we are so proud of being destroyed this way.

I don't have a real problem with it, and it has taken me a while to decipher my teenage daughter's text message's but i am getting better at it, i must say she is still a good speller though, so maybe it is not alway's the case.

I think it has it's place in our world today, but there a time's where it just should not be used and can become very irritating,i think the lol abbreviation is ok, because let's face it, it would take up a lot of room texting that message, and it can get across to someone you are having a laugh with them.

As for this lolspeak, i have not really come across it very much at all, newbie to me,again it has it's place like in captions to make them funny on the cat site you all speak of, would be appropriate there would it not?

:)

[RICHARD]

Woogy woogy woo!!! :D :D :D

Pinch my cheeks, baby?

------------


Any stupid product that pluralizes with a "Z".

Streetz, boyz, shoez....learn how to spell morons!

--------------


Sorry to turn this into a political thread.....

I was listening to the reverend gone wild, J. Wright and he was making fun of
The Kennedys, Lyndon Johnson and the way they spoke. He was making fun of their accents and followed the examples by saying that they weren't "speaking right".

I had a laugh about that because I ABSOLUTELY ABHOR when kids mangle simple sentences. It bugs me even more when I see it legitimatized on my TV when I have the sound down and the captions running.

Wright is a supposedly educated man that gots to get it together for sermonizing and the like, Y'all dig?

----------

Oh and I really can't stand it when people bastardize a saying.

Example?

We got our heads against the wall and have to win the next game.

[shepgirl]

I'm with Richard on this one. Bad enough when you're reading a post with every third word mispelled, but that "new" language drives me nuts. Typo errors do occur and I can overlook that, but when the spelling and grammar is wrong through the whole thing it drives me nuts, not to mention slowing down my reading to see what is meant.
I see it in college kids all the time...they just can't spell today.

[KitCat]

People are trying to be cute but sometimes it takes me a long time to translate, and I often give up!

[sumbirdy]

I don't find it cute at all. It's really annoying. It's hard to understand. I don't know why people can't just talk (and type) plain english. It's not that hard.

[sasvermont]

What more can be said? I don't think the LOLspeak, or whatever you want to call it, is advancing anyone's IQ. Sorry. It's a fad, and I surely hope it passes. And yes, I have used it when texting...when it is being seen by one person and the keyboard set up on the phone is too tiny....

[Kfamr]

I have to say I am fully capable of speaking and typing/spelling. My IQ has never dropped from reading or writing in LOLspeak. ;)

I suppose I don't "get" or see why it grinds some people's nerves. I know I've gotten majorly peeved by things on the internet in the past. Over the years I've decided taking the internet too seriously is ridiculous. :D

I DO understand if someone's one and only "language" is LOLspeak or they are incapable of forming an actual sentence in English. Only if they're not doing it on purpose and don't actually know how to spell properly. That's when it gets sad, not frustrating, in my opinion.


Some people's pet peeves seem silly to others and this one seems silly to me. :p


BC_Mom, since no one else said it, I have to tell you that picture was too cute. My head did asplode.

[RICHARD]

I'd like to think that the 'smart ones' use LOLspeak because they know how to spell and think that it's kool 2 follow da trend. :rolleyes:

The music industry has had a great influence on the grammar and spelling for today's kids.

"u r 2 stoopid and lazee 2 rite a song title"


---------

I don't mind the minimal abbreviations, LOL, BTW, WTF..Or even the "biatch"
type...I'll skip a paragraph when there are too many "2, R and dats" in it.

-----------

As far as cell "FONES" go....they are making us more lazy, stupid and rude.

I think that SPRINT charges 15 bucks a month for speech recognition software so you do not have to type a text message. Isn't that what voice mail is for?

Now you have to excuse yourself from the meeting to "text" a VR message from your phone as opposed to sitting at the table and not paying attention to anything that's said. ;)

[K9soul]

I don't mind the minimal abbreviations, LOL, BTW, WTF..Or even the "biatch" type...I'll skip a paragraph when there are too many "2, R and dats" in it.

This brought up another curious thought to me. I think some of all this has to do with how one reads the text they are reading. I.e. I ALWAYS READ ALL CAPS AS YELLING and small text as whispering or speaking low. Thus I read lolspeak and leetspeak as it were someone who is mentally delayed trying to speak, I read it.. slower, enunciated like a kid trying to read difficult words, and seeing it become the cool way to type and talk gets to grating on me when I start seeing it everywhere I go on the net. It is not that I think the person using it IS slow or uneducated, but I "hear" it that way in my mind if that makes sense. Again, none of this was solely directed at Pet Talkers who enjoy using lolspeak, I've seen it far more often in other places than here.

I have never been one for overuse of cutsy baby talk really anyway, even when talking to babies :D. I see my pets as intelligent, soulful beings and companions and, somehow, I just can't imagine them thinking and "talking" that way. That is just me I guess.

Anyway my original thought I mentioned was how others read LOL, OMG, BTW and so on (which by the way as I mentioned acronyms don't bother me). Do you read it as in the letters L-O-L or the letters O-M-G? In my mind I always read them out as what they stand for, when I see "BTW" my mind reads 'by the way' or "laughing out loud" for LOL or "in my opinion" for IMO. If someone walked up to me and said the letters OMG or IMO I would probably stare at them blankly. I even read WTF for what it is in my mind :o

[K9soul]

Over the years I've decided taking the internet too seriously is ridiculous. :D

It's just a discussion Kay. It wasn't started to make you apologize, put warning labels on your posts and remove your signature. It wasn't aimed at you or anyone here specifically. Just something that's a new trend that I personally don't enjoy and drives me a bit crazy at times ;). I know some people are more vehement about their opinion on it, but as you stated above you can't let things get to you too much.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

[QUOTE=RICHARD]Pinch my cheeks, baby?

------------

Sure!!! Um, which ones? ;) :D

[Cincy'sMom]

I have too hard of a time trying to type correctly as it is, to even bother trying to type things incorrectly!!! My fingers just don't work as fast as my mind and I can never quite hit the space bar in the right order...and yes, I had to make a few corrections just to get that short statement out!!!

[Kfamr]

It's just a discussion Kay. It wasn't started to make you apologize, put warning labels on your posts and remove your signature. It wasn't aimed at you or anyone here specifically. Just something that's a new trend that I personally don't enjoy and drives me a bit crazy at times ;). I know some people are more vehement about their opinion on it, but as you stated above you can't let things get to you too much.


I am aware that it is a discussion. I don't recall apologizing (atleast not for LOLspeak) and my signature was removed purely because it's now outdated. The warning label was put up as a joke between someone else and I. ;)


Oh yeah, Richard, I do it because I think it's kool2followtrendz. Nah, I find it amusing. :)

[RICHARD]

[QUOTE=RICHARD]Pinch my cheeks, baby?

------------

Sure!!! Um, which ones? ;) :D


Behave! :D

U R 2 much! :D

[momoffuzzyfaces]

[QUOTE=momoffuzzyfaces]


Behave! :D

U R 2 much! :D
:D i no ;)

[rosethecopycat]

I read I Can Haz Cheezburger (Can I Have a Cheeseburger?-for non-LOLspeak folks) all the time.
I assure you that the posters are not as young as you might think. Many are middle aged folks, and highly educated. They amaze me when they translate Shakespeare or philosophy into LOL.(I know many of you threw up in your mouths, a little here :p )But can you even quote these in English? I cannot.

Another thing, not all of what is being discussed here is LOLspeak. (twisterdog)
Some of it is texting, and other computer forms of language. LOL is not a high school girl running down the hall yelling: OMG, OMG, OMG!

The interesting part of LOLspeak is that there is indeed a grammar and rules. You can speak it well or poorly.

Does anyone realize that today's English developed out of several other languages, and had misspellings inherent in it, that were incorporated over tyme (time)?
Do you think the world is done with language development and there will be no more new languages forming? Look back at the old movies and how they spoke, around 60-70 years ago. We don't speak like that anymore, do we?
I believe that was Standard English? (please help?) It sort of had a British accent, and used words we don't use nowadays.

Most of you think we've arrived. Nothing is going to change. I tell you that in 60-100 years from now, we won't speak anything like we do today.
Will it be LOLspeak? Probably not.

LOLspeak is hard to decipher at first, but it is a game, and you can improve. If you are not interested in this game, then don't watch.

I like it because it's the 'voice of the cat' and my husband and I have been doing this verbal form for 7 years now. We are not speaking baby talk, but a
'matter-of-fact' voice of what our cats might say to us. I've been switching out pronouns most of my life. Such as: Bella, Her doesn't want to eat?


Agree totally! The only ones who should be speaking like this are Phred and Chopper! :) ;) :cool:

Why is Phred exempt here? I like the way the fire dogs speak, but you are are playing favorites. I guess you can do that if you want. :confused:

I guess I can agree with some of you. I like it when it is the 'voice of the pet'.
(Please don't bother to correct my punctuation or grammar-I'm not claiming to be an English expert)

[shais_mom]

Why is Phred exempt here? I like the way the fire dogs speak, but you are are playing favorites. I guess you can do that if you want. :confused:

I guess I can agree with some of you. I like it when it is the 'voice of the pet'.
(Please don't bother to correct my punctuation or grammar-I'm not claiming to be an English expert)

I don't think its playing Favorites at all. B/c like you said - I think its b/c they are the voice of the pet - if you look at some of Phred's posts - when he isn't posting as the fire dogs they are 'normal'.


Richard - I have verizon and my phone has the ability for me to speak a txt message - but I've never done it so I have no clue if I need the extra voice recognition software.

[Cinder & Smoke]

... if you look at some of Phred's posts -
when he isn't posting as the fire dogs -
they are 'normal'.

:p
Or, at least as 'normal' as I know how to be. :D

Don't knock the DogSpeak till you've tried it ...
takes a lot of *werk* to to translate into "DawgTalk" for an entire 'Tail'!

THANKS for the Kind Words, Staci!

/s/ the Dawg Talker
;)

[rosethecopycat]

:p


Don't knock the DogSpeak till you've tried it ...
takes a lot of *werk* to to translate into "DawgTalk" for an entire 'Tail'!


/s/ the Dawg Talker
;)

As far as I know, no one IS knocking the DawgTalk. Everybody likes it, including me, but I like the LOLspeak as well.

[shais_mom]

:p
Or, at least as 'normal' as I know how to be. :D

THANKS for the Kind Words, Staci!

/s/ the Dawg Talker
;)
well I was going to say that but that would have negated the 'kind' words! ;)
and thought maybe I would get THUMPED by a fire dog! ;)

[momoffuzzyfaces]

I read I Can Haz Cheezburger (Can I Have a Cheeseburger?-for non-LOLspeak folks) all the time.
I read it all the time too. I thought it stood for: I can have a cheeseburger. (just shows you how confused I get) ;)
I've never known a cat to ask for anything, demand yes! At least mine are that way. :D

[rosethecopycat]

I read it all the time too. I thought it stood for: I can have a cheeseburger. (just shows you how confused I get) ;)
I've never known a cat to ask for anything, demand yes! At least mine are that way. :D

We both are right, just depends on if it's posed as a question or not.
:p

[Suki Wingy]

I'd like to think that the 'smart ones' use LOLspeak because they know how to spell and think that it's kool 2 follow da trend. :rolleyes:

Again, English and Latin are two of my favorite classes, I just about had a spaz attack today over improper use of an apostrophe by a teacher. I think lolspeak is very funny. I use it. I didn't know there were people who used it because it was "cool", I guess I'm ignorant that way.


Anyway my original thought I mentioned was how others read LOL, OMG, BTW and so on (which by the way as I mentioned acronyms don't bother me). Do you read it as in the letters L-O-L or the letters O-M-G? In my mind I always read them out as what they stand for, when I see "BTW" my mind reads 'by the way' or "laughing out loud" for LOL or "in my opinion" for IMO. If someone walked up to me and said the letters OMG or IMO I would probably stare at them blankly. I even read WTF for what it is in my mind

I read LOL as literally "lol", a word, in my mind. I read OMG as the letters. I have said "O-M-G!" or "Zoh my god!" out loud, I think it's funny. :D

[Twisterdog]

Allow me to elaborate on my original post, please.

I actually do think some of the captions written from the pet's point of view are cute and funny. Chopper's narrations are hilarious, for example. I also use the attached picture as wallpaper sometimes. I don't have a problem with our critters "speaking" like that. Of course, it's a relatively novel fad, and I think it's cute-factor is going to be short-lived.

What drives me crazy is adults (or teens, who are close enough to adulthood to know better) using so many "invented" phrases that their conversations are difficult to decifer, and do not remotely resemble English.

I also have no problem with acronyms like LOL, OMG, IMO, etc. I use them when it is appropriate. And I think that is the key ... knowing when it is appropriate vs. simply immature and annoying. It's cute when a puppy "says" ... "Whaz za matter?" It is NOT cute when an adult says "k i c u l8r. ima lyke so gunna go 2 skool"

[rosethecopycat]

Allow me to elaborate on my original post, please.

I actually do think some of the captions written from the pet's point of view are cute and funny. Chopper's narrations are hilarious, for example. I also use the attached picture as wallpaper sometimes. I don't have a problem with our critters "speaking" like that. Of course, it's a relatively novel fad, and I think it's cute-factor is going to be short-lived.

What drives me crazy is adults (or teens, who are close enough to adulthood to know better) using so many "invented" phrases that their conversations are difficult to decifer, and do not remotely resemble English.

I also have no problem with acronyms like LOL, OMG, IMO, etc. I use them when it is appropriate. And I think that is the key ... knowing when it is appropriate vs. simply immature and annoying. It's cute when a puppy "says" ... "Whaz za matter?" It is NOT cute when an adult says "k i c u l8r. ima lyke so gunna go 2 skool"

I can certainly agree with that. It is not LOLspeak, the voice of the pet.

[Suki Wingy]

But that is exactly what lolspeak started as, the voice of cats. So in essence, it is, even though lolspeak has set principles and the pets who "talk" on this site may, but they're all different.

[Medusa]

No one speaks the Queen's English any more. It's a pet peeve of mine, too. Yes, I know, texting, blah blah blah.....

[RICHARD]

A side note?

Did anyone hear about the 13 year old that was in her house as it was being burgularized?

She sent a test message to her mom while she hid under the blankets.

The text was in LOLspeak....and they caught the robbers!;)

[Medusa]

Yes, saw it. In that case, it was a good thing. There are exceptions to every rule.

[Catty1]

A British gentleman was visiting Canada, and during a tour in Newfoundland he took a stroll by the ocean, and listened to the longshoreman at the docks speaking to each other.

"Dat's da way, bye!" and other phrases assaulted his sensitive ears - and finally he could stand it no longer.

He walked up to one of the men and said, "My dear man. Don't you know the Queen's English?"

The worker replied, "Why, yes, sor, I heard she were!" :rolleyes::D

[kitten645]

I think one of the great rights as humans is the freedom of choice. Delete is the best key on any keyboard. You can choose to read or not read what you wish. I have pet peeves for sure but most are ones I cannot avoid. Cracking knuckles, whistling, people who are oblivious to those around them. The lovely thing about the internet is you can pick and chose in your own home. LOL! I think LOL speak for animal speak is funny as heck. If it bugged me I wouldn't bother. All caps and posts with no punctuation drive me batty and I won't respond or read them. Improper grammer drives me crazy and I have to bite my tongue but that's life. I can't get too riled up about the small stuff.
:p You can't idiot-proof the world.
Claudia

[joycenalex]

...:p You can't idiot-proof the world. ..

true, there are too many:D

[Hellow]

Heh, i agree. I only use lol and rofl, not stuff like lolzers. It is near impossible for me to interpret what some people are saying when they talk like that.

[kelli1843]

Personally, I love the LOLcats and LOLdogs websites. Some of the captions are hysterical. I get several laughs a day from them.

However, when it comes to reading a post "by a pet that speaks" like that (where the dog/cat talks like "hez, eberyone dis is xxxxxx"), I don't even bother to read it, drives me nuts.

[Taz_Zoee]

OMG! I am talking to my niece right now through texting and it's driving me crazy! She says kewl and skool and kant (instead of can't). I can see using things to make the word shorter, like leaving out the vowels. But just spelling the word different, it's just silly!!

(I did not read this entire thread, so sorry if this isn't appropriate or has already been hashed over.)

[Emeraldgreen]

I read it all the time too. I thought it stood for: I can have a cheeseburger. (just shows you how confused I get) ;) :D

If it doesn't mean 'can I have a cheeseburger' what does it mean? :confused:

LOL speak and cute talk when it's meant to sound like it's coming from a pet doesn't bother me. I absolutely LOVE reading Chopper's posts. They are so silly and fun.

But I can't stand it when it when it is a person using it to communicate for themselves. We got this email from my step-daugther recently and we were stunned. (her dad had asked her if she had learned from something she had done that resulted in being grounded by her mother)

"heey ya i sertainly did lean from that mistake .
and ya schools going pretty well and ive been writting and reading alot latley =) i hope everythings going well with you guys and i hope you guys sell your housee .. okay well ttyl hope to see you soon !!"

love, cass xoxo

What?!?! :confused: reading and writing alot?!? Really??? Yikes! I find the lack of punctuation and capitalization and mis-spelling so irritating. My mom was an english teacher so this probably isn't helping the situation but I think it would have bothered me anyway.

She is 13 and my initial thought is that she sounds very ignorant or she is being lazy or she is following a horrible trend that is conditioning kids today to intentionally mis-spell words which is so crazy. Learning the correct way is hard enough for kids but now they are living this dual life of learning the correct way in school and spending their time away from school practicing mis-spelling. Totally bizarre!

I have been talking with my husband about getting her some tutoring over the summer for math because she has been struggling with it but I wonder if she shouldn't also get some english tutoring as well. :(

[lovespeaks]

And the majority of words she misspells/misuses don't really save her any time or keystrokes anyway. For example, why type "lyke" instead of "like", or "iz" instead of "is"? It's just silly.
yes, most definitely when Z is right below S on QWERTY! and 3 above an E as well.

... If one is TRULY too busy to type the word "you", perhaps one should opt for a phone call instead of a text or email message.
don't forget them, deaf people and their culture. they type more than you do (until their fingertips dissolve up to knuckles) and certainly they will find a shorter-est way saving some hassles.

aslo, aoccdrnig to a rchseerah at cmabrdige uinervtsiy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat lteter be at the rghit pclae (and there is a 'letter root' I suppose?) the rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deosn't raed ervey letetr by istlef, but the wrod as wlohe.. (yet, still harder to decifer). but if you are bffaled to no end by it, yuor mnid wlil. ;)