OMG
#love
LOL
If you are on the Internet or have a cell phone in your possession, then you probably know exactly what the above abbreviations mean. These are actually considered fragments, but say tons and have a world of emotion behind them as well. But why is the world suddenly talking in incomplete sentences, abbreviations, and one word stattements? Read on to find out what the experts think.
There are other examples of this global phenomenon that have actually been going on for centuries. The choral phrases "Amen" and "Preach," The military term "Salute," and even the acronymic RIP have actually been around for centuries. Suddenly, however, everyone is talking in fragments and it seems that these one-word exclamations have more impact than an 800-word essay ever could. Why? Because pictures accompany many of these fragments, therefore the fragment must outshine the image. But where did it all start?
It seems that this phenomenon of this one word shorthand could have started with social media sites like Twitter. The use of one-word wonders is necessary there, because tweets can't go over 140 characters, limiting severely what Tweeters can post. This of course, leads to users packing as much punch into their 140 characters as possible and leads to a lot of OMG and LOL on a page that the average person could never understand.
Another reason for fragments today seems to be the cell phone. The tiny keypads on the Smartphone and other phones of the day make typing out a lengthy response difficult, so many users settle for a "yes," "no," and "ttyl," to get their message across. You have to be something of a genius in deciphering some of this shorthand language, as cellphones have no room for punctuation. Not only does it take too long, it involves having to toggle the keypad to get to the punctuation, and no one has time for that in this hustle and bustle society. The result is short sentences or semi-long sentences with none of the punctuation and grammar you were taught in school.
If you think way back to your middle school years, these phrases and shortened words are awfully reminiscent of signing yearbooks between classes. Of course, then, the phrases were more like "hot," "dork," and "hot dork," oh how the times have changed, but the principle seems to be the same. The difference is that now full-grown, and otherwise intelligent, adults are forgetting all that they have learned and shortening their language on their cellphones and the Internet as well.
No one fires the employee who sends a string of gibberish across the Internet waves and no one blinks an eye at phrases like, "I can't find the document?" In earlier times, this would have translated to "I can't find the document, do you know where it is?" It seems that this if fine and no one is surprised at this slang, and what is even worse is that they understand it. It seems that in order to get along in today's modern, and oh so technological, world, you need to be able to avoid punctuation, write incomplete sentences, and express your feelings in one powerful word.
The days when a terse "yes" or "no" meant that you were being rude are long gone. This is just a good way to get the message across in a short concise way. As long as the one word phrase has the words, "sent from my phone," up under it, all is good.
Then you have Facebook, where you can post the facts about your life for all of your 456 Facebook friends to see. You don't want to write a book about your little girl's first word, so you write in short terse sentences and back it up with images for everyone to see.
In the professional world, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites are the way to link to your websites. These, like the one-word fragments, are the easy way to advertise everything from your business to your articles, and send them out to the real world.
The Internet is so image driven that people feel they have to compete by using strong words to back those images up. When your toddler does something nothing short of amazing, you want people to know about it on Facebook, but you don't have time to write a page worth of appreciation. The word "Adorable!" with a picture of the feat that your toddler accomplished is enough for admiring fans to know how you feel.
The majority of Internet slang, however, still can be laid at the feet of a busy world where no one has time to stop and smell the roses. You are in a hurry to go to work, feed the baby, or even finish that story for your editor. If you haven't learned the abbreviations or fragments of Internet language, you need to try they are here to stay.
