MISCELLANIEOUS LIST #19: lol, yakwtfgo

8 links your boomer parents that will love. or hate idk

Language isn’t static. It’s constantly evolving, especially online (iykyk).¹ The less online you are, the harder it can be to keep up. Communication style, cultural references, and online trends all factor in as to why my boss doesn’t understand when I reply to her message with “💀💀💀.” At times, I’ve had to take a step back upon the realization that soon, Gen Alpha’s texts will be utterly indecipherable to Boomers (if not already). As a, ahem, Zillennial², it feels like code-switching when I speak with my high school mentee versus my 30-something coworker friend—and that age gap is small. From acronyms to emojis to punctuation, the text threads might as well be separate languages; and in a way, they are.

At my dad’s military retirement luncheon back in 2015, my mom shared an anecdote to emphasize how nonsensical military acronyms sound to laymen. However, there’s an equal amount of in-group knowledge and context that’s required to understand an Army memo as there is to understand something like “POV: making a grwm w ur sneaky link.”³

Back to the skull emojis, though; there’s a litany of ways to express amusement and delight through text: there’s the sarcastic, distant “ha;” the standard “haha;” the believable “HAHA;” the sometimes-polite, sometimes-authentic “bahaha;” the chuckle “heh;” the cheeky “hehe;” the filler “lol;” the outdated “rofl” and it’s modern counterpart “lmao;” lmao’s variation, “lmfao;” and the newly minted Gen Z signifier “ijbol.”⁴ Furthermore, any combination of the following emojis might suffice to express glee:

The intended interpretation of other, non-hee-hee ha-ha-ing emojis depends on intent and context: 😤 = frustration or triumph; 💅 = glamour or nonchalance; 🥵 = exhaustion or attraction; 👉👈 = pointing or shy. (Ahh, the ways in which we express language never cease to amaze.)

Beyond translating these modern hieroglyphics, TikTok—as those on the app know—has accelerated our online speak, churning out more new colloquialisms, slang, and shorthand by the minute. In an attempt to circumvent content guidelines and dodge algorithmic censorship, heterographs⁵ and leetspeak⁶are common. On my feed it’s hard to go more than five videos without seeing “seggs,” “ n4k3d,” “corn,” “yt ppl,” or something of the like. We mirror what we see, so after getting battered with videos of people using the word “slay,” it’s hard not to react to every office-wide Slack message with the same (guilty).

And don’t get me started on punctuation; a single exclamation mark feels sterile, forced, and corporate. But two little exclaimies? Two exude a certain light, openness, and girlish enthusiasm. In the (e-)bible of internet comms, double punctuation is all but mandatory to emphasize genuine interest and emotion. (Use three and you’re a freak though fr!!)⁷

Haters will say internet slang shows diminishing literacy or linguistic abilities, but again, language is dynamic. It evolves through and bends to us, not vice versa. And, like⁸, it’s fun to say the cool, of-the-moment slang. It proves group membership, relevance, and cultural understanding. It’s like being in on the joke. You either get it and perpetuate its usage, or you’re out and you’re confused.

I mean, as long as you’re not linguistically still in 2008 in our syntactically awry “can I has a cheezburger?” era (yikes).

Anyway, leave your a/s/l in the comments and feel free to ama⁹!!

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅ EDIT JANUARY 2024 ⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅

mind if i put this here? how people laugh online around the world

This week’s list: 8 links that pertain to the ~¡º•:*online*:•º¡~

1. the girlies are girlie-ing (Vanity Fair)

   • barbie. girl dinner. coquettecore. this summer’s gone to the dogs girls as we (collectively, desperately) yearn for the return of girlhood.

2. your online returns are being sent straight to the place that rhymes with “lump.” - (The New Yorker)

3. SHEIN + David Yurman: Bama rush (The Atlantic)

   (i hit the paywall so actually if someone could fill me in, i would appreciate <3)

4. the attention economy (YouTube)
   i’m always overlooking the youtube essays. a true art!! haven’t yet watched her video on Gen Z humor, but u can bet that one’s next.

5. the tiny awards

   stumbled across this fun little site! the 2023 winner of this indie web design competition was https://rotatingsandwiches.com/ (which—spoiler—is kind of exactly what it sounds like).

6. the NYT review of “Swarm”

   a seven-episode series produced by Donald Glover, randomly starring Billie Eilish, and crediting Malea Obama as a writer. first two episodes are the best, the other five are eh.

7. felt particularly called out by trend forecaster Cassandra’s recent newsletter on Gen Z and tattoo trends.

8. new dialect unlocked

   linguists have identified a new dialect in south FL. this is so!! cool!!

That’s all for now. ◡̈ Stay slay!! lmao

Godspeed,

lanie

PS - yakwtfgo, defined
PPS - new footnotes record??

1. if you know, you know. (originated around 2009)

2. those straddling the line between Gen Z and Millennial, duh!!

3. yeah, i absolutely refuse to translate this one for you, sorry.

4. i just burst out laughing

5. heterograph (n.) - a word that sounds the same as another word, but has a different spelling and meaning. example: “write” and “right”

6. leetspeak (n.) - an informal language or code used on the internet, in which standard letters are often replaced by numerals or special characters that resemble the letters in appearance

7. if my explainer didn’t clear things up for you, “!!” is Millennials’ and Boomers’ “…” (as far as its near-perfect adherance within specific age groups)

8. “like” can be used as noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, particle, conjunction, hedge, filler, quotative, semi-suffix

9. ask me anything (originated in the 90s so, c’mon, you should know this)