Sunday, December 16, 2007

Internet abbreviations

I understand there's a completely different spelling of the English language online, completely justified through instant messaging and comments on online games. My question is: Where's the line? Email is still an internet-thing...does it fit under the "new language" or the "old spelling" of words?

I know--I get irritated when things I record my thoughts with wrong spellings, but most people don't. But, don't most people know that "come" has 4 letters including a silent "e," or do they think it's "cum," like in an email I just read?

I accept internet shorthand, use it even, but some things just don't seem like a valuable use of thought to shorten.

My favorite abbreviation, though, is "roflcopter." Any guesses?

4 comments:

Cougarg said...

Rolling On the Floor Laughing... I haven't the foggiest what -copter stands for.

And I don't think email, or web pages are acceptable forums for cyber-shorthand. I think that it should only be allowed in a messaging environment, as there is only so much space to write a message in. But I have only adopted a few shorthand phrases, unfortunately I use them outside the messaging realm sometimes. But mostly I write out the full word even while messaging.

Anonymous said...

I'm a big fan of using actual words, I almost never use short hand although the roflcopter is like extreme laughter - I believe it comes from world of warcraft :)

Anonymous said...

I agree with what has been said. Excessive abbreviations in emails are just plain lazy.

Anonymous said...

LOL!