Teens turn computer lingo into everyday language.

[takenbythesky]

..........

[ryan8472]

I say "jay kay" out loud sometimes. But I'm not as bad as those kids.

[dissention]

If someone said "En pee" to me, I'd tell them to find the john. How lazy do you have to be to speak that crud instead of speaking properly?

[jannieC]

Originally Posted by takenbythesky

Speaking of Shortcuts

By Michelle Quinn
Mercury News

Why laugh when you can say ``El oh el'' instead?

For that matter, saying ``Ninety-nine'' at the end of an evening works just as well as ``Nighty-night.'' Need to cheer up a friend? Try whispering, ``Less than three.'' When typed, it makes a sideways heart <3. (Use your imagination.)

The strange slang of instant messaging (IMing for those in the know) has infiltrated the ever-changing dialect known as teen speak. It is one thing that teens' online chit-chat is littered with abbreviations, acronyms, phonetic spellings and other shortcuts on the computer screen. But now many are talking as if they have keyboards permanently attached to their brains.
Erin Wilcox, 13, is fluent in typing IM abbreviations, phonetic spellings and emoticons, symbols that typing can make such as a smiley face :-).

With friends, Erin regularly says ``Jay kay'' for ``Just kidding'' and ``Bee ar bee'' for ``Be right back.'' Instead of saying ``Sorry,'' she apologizes with ``Ess ar why,'' the IM abbreviation for sorry.

Now, the eighth-grader at River Glen Elementary and Middle School uses ``Ess ar why'' all the time (even with her mother, Anne, on the phone), explaining its meaning to the clueless.

To adults, this way of talking may seem silly and cumbersome. But to many teenagers, speaking IM is fast, fun and convenient, a natural extension of the multiple conversations they have every day online. And like all jargon, it separates insiders from outsiders.

``It's a code,'' said Neil Randall, a professor of English at the University of Waterloo in Canada, who wrote a 2002 study, ``Lingo Online: The Language of the Keyboard Generation.'' ``If you don't pick it up, you aren't part of the gang.''

No one really knows how many teenagers use IM speak, how many IM terms are spoken, whether girls do it more than boys or if there are regional IM dialects. Over the past 80 years, new English expressions typically begin as speech, thanks in large part to broadcast media, which then influences writing, says Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist who teaches at UC-Berkeley's School of Information Management and Systems.

But now, says Nunberg, ``media like e-mail, the Web and text-messaging have begun to shift the balance the other way.''

Sending short typed messages over the Internet has supplanted the telephone for many teenagers as the preferred mode for staying connected. Once they become adept with typing IM lingo, they begin to say it out loud.
``They don't do it to exclude other kids but to affirm each other,'' says Diane Main, a sixth-grade teacher at Milpitas Christian School. She can tell which students have begun instant messaging by who is saying ``Oh em gee'' (for ``Oh my gosh,'' or in other circles, ``Oh my God'') and ``El oh el.''

Greg Edwards, 14, a student at Bellarmine College Preparatory, dismisses IM speak as ``annoying'' but he knows his ``Ess ar why'' from his ``Tee tee why el'' (Talk to you later). He has heard other kids say ``Colon dash parenthesis'' when they are happy. Yes, they say the keyboard symbols to make a sideways happy face :-).

At the Mananghaya home in Santa Clara, Leonard Mananghaya, 17, and his sister Gail, 13, spar in IM slang.
Gail says ``El oh el,'' ``Jay kay,'' ``Oh em gee'' and ``Lah moo'' (typed as LMAO, meaning ``Laugh my ass off'').
Leonard responds with ``Dash underscore dash'' --_-- to glare at her or ``Colon capital P'' :P to stick out his tongue (sideways).
``Sometimes I have to think about the picture he's making,'' says Gail.

Each generation creates its own slang, usually gleaned from pop culture. It is one way teenagers, determined to prove their independence, carve out an adult-free zone, linguists say.

In fact, the language works so well that some teens say adults seem oblivious to it. ``Parents don't hear it,'' says Francine Han, 17, a senior at Independence High.

Linguist Nunberg says he has eavesdropped on his daughter saying ``Ninety-nine'' and ``Bee ar bee.'' ``They don't use it with parents,'' he says. ``They can control it. They know instinctively when to do it.''

No one should fret that IM jargon will wreck teenagers' speech, education, earning potential or dating prospects. Chances are the lingo will fade away, say linguists. In the meantime, adults might pick up a few expressions, they say.

``I'm not suggesting using their slang,'' says Edward Finegan, a professor of linguistics and law at the University of Southern California. ``It will make us look foolish. It's their language. But we have to know what `Bee ar bee' means.''

Besides, for some young people, IM speak, like an old joke, begins to grate.
Lorraine Clemente, 17, would rather hear ``No problem'' than ``En pee.'' And she prefers laughter over ``Ar oh tee ef el'' (for ``Rolling on the floor laughing'').

``You can't really laugh and say `El oh el' at the same time,'' she says.

---

I don't know anyone who talks like this. Maybe the kids who do are younger than I? In whatever case, I can't but feel that they are missing out on part of the beauty of language. If someone spoke like this to me, I might find it annoying.

I say "LOL" and "BRB" just to annoy my husband sometimes.

Seriously though, it seems a little weird. But being part of an online forum such as this one is weird to some people, too.

[David]

Originally Posted by takenbythesky

The strange slang of instant messaging (IMing for those in the know) has infiltrated the ever-changing dialect known as teen speak. It is one thing that teens' online chit-chat is littered with abbreviations, acronyms, phonetic spellings and other shortcuts on the computer screen.

Why is this pervasive use of abbreviations & emoticons -- which we're all thoroughly familiar with -- referred to as instant messaging (IM) slang? Not only does most of it predate instant messaging, but it is also widespread far beyond the specific uses of IM, including Usenet newsgroups, e-mail, Internet Relay Chat (IRC) & Web message boards like the Ledge.

And why the reporter's implication that this slang is used only by teenagers? Not true by a long shot, as we all know (all of us who spend year after year on Web message boards).

[goldustsongbird]

I think that's just ridiculous. I don't even like it when people go to the extreme when using abbreviations... Not just "lol" and "brb". Those are fine, but when you have to sit and decipher the sentence? A friend of mine (who is younger than I am) refuses to type properly. A typical conversation with her:
lol n then i wnt 2 the store aftr right, n all thse ppl were thr doign their xmas shopping lol iwas like wtf.

WTF is right.

I think their implication that it's only being used by teens refer to the extemes I mentioned. I don't know many people who are older that shorten everything to the point where it's almost illegible. When I first went online, in about... 1999, or so, I mostly went into chatrooms (back when MSN chats were free). Practically everyone used shortforms. I did too, until I started posting on messageboards, and realized how ridiculous things in short form looked in an actual post. On IM and in chats, you sometimes have to respond quickly, which is why there are all of these slang words, and shortened versions of thiings, but on a forum, you can take the time to type things properly and with good grammar. I get annoyed when people (not necessarily here) post stuff like that. You have enough time to type things properly... It's not as if you're in a rush, so why not just do it?


Anyway. When it comes to actually saying those things out loud, I think it'd be a little weird. Occasionally, I'll be like, "Oh em gee!", but more in a mocking manner than anything.

[Karlie]

I don't know any teenagers who talk like that. Sometimes my friends and I say, "jay kay el oh el bee eff eff" as a joke, though.

[amber]

Originally Posted by David

Why is this pervasive use of abbreviations & emoticons -- which we're all thoroughly familiar with -- referred to as instant messaging (IM) slang? Not only does most of it predate instant messaging, but it is also widespread far beyond the specific uses of IM, including Usenet newsgroups, e-mail, Internet Relay Chat (IRC) & Web message boards like the Ledge.

And why the reporter's implication that this slang is used only by teenagers? Not true by a long shot, as we all know (all of us who spend year after year on Web message boards).

I think because the people who are perpetrating it in this case (teens) do use it mostly for IM? (I'm not sure, but that seems like a sound working theory)
And though it's not used only by teens, I think a higher percentage of teens are using it then other groups?

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by dissention

If someone said "En pee" to me, I'd tell them to find the john. How lazy do you have to be to speak that crud instead of speaking properly?

I'll tell you exactly what it is. Theyre "Trying" to be hip.

[David]

Originally Posted by amber

I think because the people who are perpetrating it in this case (teens) do use it mostly for IM? (I'm not sure, but that seems like a sound working theory)
And though it's not used only by teens, I think a higher percentage of teens are using it then other groups?

I think you're right. But where have you been of late, O Thalia, decked in vernal bloom?

[DavidMn]

I guess I'm one of those people that never worries about being on the cutting edge of things. I just roll along in my life and not worry about that stuff.