"Lolspeak" drives me nuts

[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.

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

[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.

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.

[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!"

[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.
You can't idiot-proof the world.
Claudia

[joycenalex]

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

true, there are too many

[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)

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

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?!?! 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.