*I Actually Submitted this to my Cutural Studies Class*

TheGallows · 09-25-2009, 09:39 AM

So the object of this low-weighted university assignment was to give an example of 'the contradictory potential of media technology' in your life.

Lulz ensued:

"
Cult 100, Assignment 1
September 21, 2009

The lives of Western youngsters today are characterized in part by the extreme degree to which they are connected to one another. Social networking sites, online forums, instant messaging (IM) software, and portable devices have created a nearly in-severable link between modern adolescents and their peers. Almost as significant as this text-based technology's function is the impact it has had on the very language that facilitates it: chatting online and instant messaging is transforming the English language.
The contradictory potential for online text-based conversation to give birth to thousands of new colloquialisms began with the desire for efficiency. People longed to send messages very quickly, but also wanted to accomplish this with as little effort as possible. Thus, the first and most basic additions to the English language from this media were new acronyms. "lol," "brb," "asl," and "ntm" were introduced very early, but the lexicon was soon expanded to include such abbreviations as "nvm," "stfu," "wbu," and "gtfo" just to name a few. The hastiest of users intensified the simplification of communication by using the phonetics of a number or letter's name to represent whole words as well as sacrificing the correct spelling of words because of keyboard geography. An example of a sentence which combines these three techniques is: "Wood u h8 me if I sed I g2g?"
The complexity of our language"s metamorphosis was significantly deepened when users began to use the aforementioned techniques not for function, but for style. For instance, a user might write "I sea" rather than "I see," even though the latter is both correct and easier to type. Further, one may even write "lawl" instead of "lol". In this case the word "lol" has become so habitual that its phonetics alone can articulate its meaning and its function as an acronym is moot. Eventually, these modifications even transformed sentence structure ("I can haz cheeseburger?") and birthed new verbs ("first I lol'd, but then I serious'd.").
Of course, the vast majority of these linguistic additions are slang, and therefore do not affect the composition of the legal or academic works of our time, but that does not mean that they are imprisoned in their cyber context. Indeed, more and more internet phrases are making their way into the conversation of young people: one might actually say "B-R-B" rather than "I'll be right back." The creation of all of these new ways of writing, and their transition into speech, were not foreseen by the inventors of the text-based technology, and it is interesting to sea how much English will change in coming generations.
"

Cliffs: Used Misc werds in academic pape

Mak3don3c · 09-25-2009, 09:42 AM

Lawl

invain · 09-25-2009, 09:43 AM

Did you use a thesaurus for that? Lol. I understood all of it but some of your wording is a little over the top and unnecessary.

TheGallows · 09-25-2009, 09:44 AM

unfortunately the prof said we're not getting these back so I'll never know wthat it was graded, it was just for a portion of a participation mark, which itself is only 10% of our grade.

Squ33k · 09-25-2009, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by invain

Did you use a thesaurus for that? Lol. I understood all of it but some of your wording is a little over the top and unnecessary.

This..
C-

lmao wtf "The hastiest of users intensified the simplification of communication by using the phonetics of a number or letter's name to represent whole words as well as sacrificing the correct spelling of words because of keyboard geography." Do you reckon your prof. will LOL at this report as hard as i did?

TheGallows · 09-25-2009, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by invain

Did you use a thesaurus for that? Lol. I understood all of it but some of your wording is a little over the top and unnecessary.

No I whipped it up in like 20 mins, which explains the structual errors. But ya I wanted the Bombastic to clash with the colloquial, Big words with Slang.