4 ms·
Are we still pretending "lol" is not just a piece of grammar now?
by causi 4y ago
Are we still pretending "lol" is not just a piece of grammar now?
- w-m 4y agoHow did it come to replace the period as the marker for the end of a sentence?
- causi 4y agoIt doesn't mark the end of a sentence. It marks that the sentence is not to be taken with the utmost seriousness.
- w-m 4y agoIf you put it like that, the marker would only make sense in an otherwise serious conversation. But when it's used as a stop marker for every other message in a texting app, that's already a very casual and light-hearted environment, why do some people feel the need to reinforce it again and again? Maybe I'm overthinking it lol
- mxkopy 4y agolmao
- Phlogistique 4y agoBecause human communication involves redundancy of information.
- unshavedyak 4y agoIt's also interesting, i frequently use `lol.` as a sort of combination emotion, where i'm signalling laughing but also abruptly stopping. Meaningfully different than a `heh`. Likewise `heh` and `heh.` have a very distinct feel. Language is weird, it just comes naturally and organically and i go with the flow. Though i find this style of writing mostly done in texting. Long/medium form doesn't benefit as greatly from it.
- bigDinosaur 4y agoI've indeed seen it used to mean basically 'this is serious but don't take it too seriously' if that makes sense, in the way that someone might say: 'university education is useless for the current job market lol'. I guess there are levels to this thing.
- joegahona 4y agoIt'll be really disturbing when execs and legal departments start using it to soften bad news. > Due to macroeconomic headwinds, we’ve made the very difficult decision to reduce our workforce by about 40 percent lol
- oytis 4y ago> How did it come to replace the period as the marker for the end of a sentence lol FTFY
- shultays 4y agoI am still trying to get over someone actually loudly saying "lol" while laughing
- euroderf 4y agoomg wtf. irl?
- hdjjhhvvhga 4y agoI don't believe it's happened yet; Merriam-Webster still has it as an abbreviation only spelled as LOL whereas in practice it's already used as a verb.
- schinazi 4y agoThis morphing of LOL is used as an example in the very interesting and enjoyable book "Words on the Move: Why English Won't – and Can't – Sit Still (Like, Literally)" by John McWhorter. https://bookshop.org/p/books/words-on-the-move-why-english-won-t-and-can-t-sit-still-like-literally-john-mcwhorter/230384 https://bookshop.org/p/books/words-on-the-move-why-english-w...
- causi 4y agoAll of McWhorter's material is great. Highly recommend his audiobooks.
- Fnoord 4y agoIt has always been, in Dutch (it means 'fun'). And the Dutch have been very early and influential on IRC (where the acronym stems from).