Are you REALLY laughing out loud?
Some of you may consider this a truly silly pet-peeve but I simply HAVE to mention it because it bugs me on pretty much a daily basis. If I didn't have to be exposed to it practically daily, I probably wouldn't even mention it.
First, a back story. :-)
When I was a young teen, we were sitting at the dinner table and either my older sister or I was talking about something (no idea what) and my dad stopped us in the middle of it and said, "Is it possible for you to tell a story without saying the word 'like' even once?"
I guess we took it as a challenge and commenced trying to talk without saying the word 'like'.
We were unsuccessful. Horribly unsuccessful. I remember struggling to get through even one sentence without the word. 'Like' had become some new part of speech which one was required to use in order to speak the English language.
But I think it cracked my dad up. I remember feeling a little ridiculous that I was so dependent on one word. It was very much a teen thing to use the word 'like' so prevalently and I despised being a 'typical teen'... which I was, make no mistake. But teens never like to be told they are typical teens.
Anyway, I consider the word 'like' in my teen years to be equivalent in overuse as the phrase 'LOL'.
EVERY time I see 'LOL' or 'Lol' or 'lol' I just want to take a black permanent marker and mark through it on my screen. I actually did that with a book once, "The Catcher in the Rye", because every page had at least 15 occurrences of the word "G-damn" (insert intended vowel and consonant).
I'd like to say something rude every time I see a rendition of 'lol', like "OK are you really laughing out loud or could you not think of anything else to say to express that you found it humorous?"
Then there's the times people just put 'lol', not even capitalized. What does that mean? It was mildly humorous? Well then you couldn't have possibly have been laughing out loud. Liar.
I get all bent out of shape if I have to see it too many times in one day. Once is enough. But as I cruise through facebook, or a text message, I mentally cringe over and over and Over and OVER.
'Lol' seems to have become it's own word. It no longer actually represents 'laughing out loud' to people. It just means "hey that was funny" even if there was no laughter involved.
So while you're grinding you're teeth right now because I'm being utterly absurd, in the memory of my dearly departed father, I'd like to present you with a challenge. Do you think you can refrain from using any form of 'lol' for a month or so? Can you try to be more creative and descriptive with your language? Can you challenge your teenage kids to do it too? Pretty please?
First, a back story. :-)
When I was a young teen, we were sitting at the dinner table and either my older sister or I was talking about something (no idea what) and my dad stopped us in the middle of it and said, "Is it possible for you to tell a story without saying the word 'like' even once?"
I guess we took it as a challenge and commenced trying to talk without saying the word 'like'.
We were unsuccessful. Horribly unsuccessful. I remember struggling to get through even one sentence without the word. 'Like' had become some new part of speech which one was required to use in order to speak the English language.
But I think it cracked my dad up. I remember feeling a little ridiculous that I was so dependent on one word. It was very much a teen thing to use the word 'like' so prevalently and I despised being a 'typical teen'... which I was, make no mistake. But teens never like to be told they are typical teens.
Anyway, I consider the word 'like' in my teen years to be equivalent in overuse as the phrase 'LOL'.
EVERY time I see 'LOL' or 'Lol' or 'lol' I just want to take a black permanent marker and mark through it on my screen. I actually did that with a book once, "The Catcher in the Rye", because every page had at least 15 occurrences of the word "G-damn" (insert intended vowel and consonant).
I'd like to say something rude every time I see a rendition of 'lol', like "OK are you really laughing out loud or could you not think of anything else to say to express that you found it humorous?"
Then there's the times people just put 'lol', not even capitalized. What does that mean? It was mildly humorous? Well then you couldn't have possibly have been laughing out loud. Liar.
I get all bent out of shape if I have to see it too many times in one day. Once is enough. But as I cruise through facebook, or a text message, I mentally cringe over and over and Over and OVER.
'Lol' seems to have become it's own word. It no longer actually represents 'laughing out loud' to people. It just means "hey that was funny" even if there was no laughter involved.
So while you're grinding you're teeth right now because I'm being utterly absurd, in the memory of my dearly departed father, I'd like to present you with a challenge. Do you think you can refrain from using any form of 'lol' for a month or so? Can you try to be more creative and descriptive with your language? Can you challenge your teenage kids to do it too? Pretty please?
I KNOW that I am one of the people that uses this acronym CONSTANTLY :-) The best part about me though? When I use the LOL (or it's alternate in lower case) I really mean it. I don't know if it's because I live alone or if I just like to laugh THAT much, but whenever you see an LOL after something I've typed...it's a genuine guarantee I actually laughed. :-D Sometimes I will use HEHE or HAHA to represent said laughter but I promise in either case there was laughter involved.
ReplyDeleteI've also tried to ween myself off the word like... it is HARD. Perhaps a new task for me will be to express my LOL's and Like's with a new word! Perhaps that word will become an awesome trend and replace the LOL's and Likes!
I'll keep that in mind Ariel. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started seeing LOL I thought it meant Lots of Love. I'm stuck on smiley faces and it drives my brother-in-law nuts. =)
ReplyDelete