msmoon | LJ Idol, Season 3, Post 6 – ohmigawd, waterfalls… (Reply)

Ok…so, this week’s

therealljidol post is, and I quote: “omg y do u tipe so funy???? lol netsp34k n lj: A Cross-Cultural Study of Internet-based Linguistics and Their Implications On This Social Networking Website” ….I must admit, my brain tends to shut down when confronted with poor grammar and netspeak =.= Which, I must also add, is very odd since I always use slang and abbreviations. I feel that if I type the same way that I talk, it will convey more of myself in my message. So I’m not afraid to type out ‘gonna’ instead of ‘going to’ if it’s really more what I’d actually say. Not to mention I am all for time saving acronyms such as OMG, LOL etc. What does annoy me is when I’m talking to you in an instant message and after I’ve said typed in three different messages, and you’ve replied back with ‘lol!’ each time. At that point, I just stop wanting to say anything to you, because really it’s all fillers between your lol’s. The first part of the sentence bothers me if only because things are spelled wrong and all in lower case. Netspeak or Leetspeak (n3tsp34k & l33tsp34k r3$p3c+iv3ly) drive me right past the border of borderline and off the cliffs of insanity. Not a good thing.

Let me just break this down and try to be as simple as possible. I originally thought that the only reason people would type ‘y’ for ‘why’ and ‘u’ for ‘you’ (etc. etc.) was because they were lazy or they didn’t know how to type properly. Either way it was slightly aggravating but tolerable. At the very least, I can understand that without too much of a fuss. Netspeak drives me mad because it takes forever to type and even longer to decipher.

I’ve always believed that if you’re smart, you take the time to convey your thoughts articulately. There’s someone that I’ve known for a few short years, and I respect him because he is intellectual and thorough. He thinks before he talks and checks his sources before he makes statements. That’s smart. But then, he sent me an e-mail, and I was shocked to read, “I hope u get 2 feeling better, we'll b praying 4 u!!!”... ohmigawd, waterfalls?(1). I was thinking to myself that this person is genuine and articulate, but if I didn’t know him in person, I’d wouldn’t think that because he isn’t presenting himself that way. Does it affect my opinion of him now? No. But I think it will cause him to be lost in translation for others who have more rigid standards.

Bottom Line: People have problems getting their true intentions across when they’re standing in a room talking to you, and that emotion is taken away when it comes to things like print. You can’t make it difficult for someone to understand you and then be upset when they don’t want to take the time to listen to what you have to say. I feel that without good grammar and good presentation, you can never be sure if someone will take you seriously enough or if they will receive your message. Being a writer, I constantly comb over all of my words, hoping that each one is just the right one to convey what it is I’m trying to express. I stress over grammar, presentation and format because in truth, I sometimes feel as though I’ve no idea if I’m presenting what I want to present accurately. In the end, all I can do is the maximum to present my words to you and hope you choose to overlook whatever errors I may make (because believe me, I always will).

I use shortcuts, and I make mistakes. I use slang because I feel that it takes what would be bland writing and spices it up with a bit of myself. S’not like it’s too hard to understand, and it does give me a bit of individuality. And just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you have to go and loose yourself in text. I also try to insert little tricks that help convey moods...Heck, sometimes, use things like “/sarcasm” to make sure you know I’m being sarcastic; or, I’ll use little faces like this: ^.^ to let you know I’m happy (or >.> suspicious / ¬.¬ annoyed / =.= tired / -.- embarrassed / ^.~ winking at you). We all use little tricks to make sure that we’re understood. But I always try to work to make sure that behind the typos and tricks, the message is heard…I feel that I shouldn’t have to expect anything less from anyone else. And netspeak and botched spelling doesn’t make whoever chooses to use it dumb or lazy or aggravating, but it does decrease the chase I’ll choose to give you my time.

That’s my story...and I’m stickin’ with it ^___^ Thanks for y’time and consideration, and ya’ll have a lovely day now ^.~

Yaviel Isilmiel

(1) Waterfalls – Refers to a private joke between friends. When reading an entry with ‘wtf’ in it, a friend commented that whenever she saw that she thought of ‘waterfalls’ because they were so pretty and it had the wtf in the word. So we agreed that instead of saying ‘wtf’ when we’re confused and want to ask that question we ask one another ‘waterfalls?’