Author Topic: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.  (Read 3206 times)

Offline Moose

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The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« on: 31-03-2009, 17:03:39 »
I just wanted to start a discussion on various internet acronyms. I've been into video games and the video game world for years as I'm sure most you have. And I just wanted to sit down with you guys and think about the evolution of acronyms and slang we've seen over the years. It is curious to me how these things get started. In the old day there weren't many, thanks like lol and ttyl became common place, who started lol? Some guy somewhere just decided to type it and it caught on? I wonder if that could be patented. I was just checking facebook and somebody's status was just fml(fuck my life) which has just appeared on the scene as a common acyronym in the last year or so. I just hope some day I can create a word that becomes universally used by the internet.

On another story, yesterday I was talking with my girlfriend and I said that something was epic, and she said that it was a video game saying/ Maybe she is right, it's curious to think that our exposure to video games and forums like these evolve the way we speak, it puts a video game tint to it. Even the people who don't speak english as a first language, you could come here and use things like FTW with non-video gamers and they won't know it. It's just an interesting thing that came to me this morning while I was doing homework. Discuss :-D.

Offline Sir Apple

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #1 on: 31-03-2009, 17:03:39 »
Hmm,

Well from what I know, a bunch of them come from 4Chan (not sure if I should censor that or not  :P). After all, 4Chan is the reason the word "Epic" got over used to the point of annoyance (Epic Fail guy is a good example of this). So, a lot of the sayings come from there, or are abused there and then become popular amongst us  ;).


As for making up your own saying. Don't bother. Because no matter what you say you made up, there is a large chance someone else in the world may have already used it  ;D.

Offline Die Happy

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #2 on: 31-03-2009, 17:03:42 »
well my friends and i we all startet of playing online with starcraft +broodwar, diablo II, Q3 , CS and all the other good old stuff.
i guess most her know the pwning 1337 sp33k of CS and co but starcraft was different. first of all it was a RTS and not a shooter and back then and today is very much influenced by the Koreans. so many expressions like chobo and other stuff found its way into out every language.

it is not that present today anymore but back then it was a strong influence.

today you here the occasional rolf/lol and of course FTW, noob etc.
we all got older so it is not that excessive anymore but the gaming language is a part of our every day peer language.

where do these come from ?
the normal game UN-related stuff comes from chatrooms, computer people are a lazy bunch and every keystroke weakens you  so it is natural to use these kinds of acronyms.

where these gaming stuff came from ? not sure
i guess stuff like pwned is just a simple typo  ( the o would be right next to the p)
other stuff i dont know.

thing like epic might come the mixtures of people who get to know the pc, not just the casual CS gamer but the RTS and RPG player that came from pen&paper and table top games sure had their influences there.

if people read or hear something and like it they pick it up and start using it themselves later on. if they dont like it it wont spread.

Live Long & Die Happy

Biiviz

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #3 on: 31-03-2009, 17:03:31 »
Leet speak came from IRC, unless I'm completely mistaken.

Offline Fuchs

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #4 on: 31-03-2009, 19:03:24 »
Well theres a big part just too shorten messages (AFK, BRB, AFAIK, IIRC) but the others just appear in crazy moods? I've also wondered about this, the internet dialect :P
"Force answers force, war breeds war, and death only brings death.
To break this vicious circle one must do more than act without thought or doubt."

Offline Moose

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #5 on: 31-03-2009, 20:03:01 »
See I don't know know what AFAIK or IIRC (if I recall?) are.

Offline Sir Apple

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #6 on: 31-03-2009, 20:03:28 »
See I don't know know what AFAIK or IIRC (if I recall?) are.

IIRC = If I recall correctly (I think).

I don't know what AFAIK is, well, I forget anyway  ;D.

What does I.E mean, while were on this topic?

Offline jumjum

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #7 on: 31-03-2009, 20:03:57 »
YMMV - "your mileage may vary", meaning "your experience might differ from mine".
Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes.....

Offline Zrix

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #8 on: 31-03-2009, 20:03:00 »
AFAIK = As Far As I Know


While on this topic, I recommend the Urban Dictionary if you need to look up these kind of "words".


Offline Kubador

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #9 on: 31-03-2009, 20:03:33 »
SPAM came from monthy payton's spam gag.

Offline Fuchs

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #10 on: 31-03-2009, 20:03:25 »
If I recall/remember correctly, indeed.
Haha yes, Monty Python has so much influence on culture.
"Force answers force, war breeds war, and death only brings death.
To break this vicious circle one must do more than act without thought or doubt."

Offline VonMudra

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #11 on: 31-03-2009, 21:03:16 »
You know, you bring up an interesting topic, Moose.

A lot of people might sneer at the vocab and saying we have now, but 20 years down the line, when our generation fully takes over, its going to become common place.  Already words from this generation are finding their way into dictionarys, like google, and meh.  It won't be long before saying something is epic will become just another part of our vocab, and 'lol' will be similar to 'ok' or 'ie' in usage.  language is constantly evolving, but with the coming of the internet age, we've all been linked to other cultures, as well has having to adapt our language, we're adapting to other people's languages too.  The next 20, 30 years will, linguistically speaking, be radical in change, imo.

Offline Wilhelm

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #12 on: 01-04-2009, 02:04:10 »
Yes, this is off-topic, but if this is what Sir.Apple was referring to:

What does i.e. stand for when you give an example or such (ie. like this?)

Offline Sir Apple

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #13 on: 01-04-2009, 03:04:31 »


What does i.e. stand for when you give an example or such (ie. like this?)

Yeah, I can't figure it out   ;).

Offline Zrix

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Re: The evolution of Internet Acronyms and slang.
« Reply #14 on: 01-04-2009, 03:04:57 »
Quote
1.    ie
   1. i.e. Abbreviation of Latin 'Id Est' meaning "that is" (to say).


(not to be confused with e.g. (for example) - i.e. provides an explanation rather than an example.

You guys should really start reading the posts in the thread.