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 webslinky: netspeak
This week, LOL! Greetings, baffled adults! Welcome to teh internets, a terrifying world of cryptic communication – if you’re parent to a stereotypical teenager.From the very beginning, internet communication developed a lexicon of its own, from the emoticon to new terminology (like “emoticon”). This gave rise to the common usage of internet slang as well as the more hardcore “l33t” speak, or leet speak, which feeds it. What may come as a surprise is just how far Leet has developed as a language (of sorts) in just a few years, taking its cues from not just hacker and gaming jargon, but also popular culture, new technology and indeed itself. Leet is now characterized by elements of self-parody (often intentionally mimicking or embracing common typing errors) and the self-referential evolution of phrases, from acronym to phonetic pronunciation and back again. As you might expect, the wikipedia entry on Leet goes into great detail about the language, but if you’re a parent looking for a quick primer to net slang, Microsoft can help. Their guide is very simple but it does the job – unlike the hilariously confused piece on About.com: since when was “hit the road” internet slang? There are also more comprehensive resources, like the full acronym dictionary at net slang translation service noslang.com, but it also often verges on the ridiculous. This could be daunting for the semi-interested passer-by, but it's unlikely that the majority of the yoof of today actually use much of it. No, they're too busy writing in txtspk-derived phonetic shorthand, itself inheriting some of the words used in chatrooms (with a bit of leet chucked in for good measure). When it gets interesting is when children who have grown up with txtspk continue to use it online out of habit: by way of example, animator David Firth’s Jerry Jackson character takes this to the comic extreme. On the internet, language moves from the fringes of the “elite” into wider use along with the technology. And once the txtspk generation becomes the majority, I think it's reasonable to guess that some more obscure slang will move into regular usage: after all, if most people know what it means to “Google someone”, how long will it be before victorious footballers are shouting “0wned!!!” at their opponents?
David Thair
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related info
 useful linkswikipedia: leet microsoft: leet about: netspeak noslang.com fat-pie: jerryjackson
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 webslinky #111time  webslinky #110personality tests  webslinky #109big things  webslinky #108karaoke  webslinky #107end of the world  webslinky #106insects  webslinkyarchive books  books and comics archive Author interviews and reviews from 2002 to 2008. art  art archive Watch artist interviews and see images from British exhibitions. |
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