Ah that Wacky Intra-Web
Posted By Kathleen David on January 23, 2008
The other day I was chatting online with a friend who lives in another country which is really kind of cool since we were “talking” pretty much in real time. I asked them if they read this article that another friend had recommended to a bunch of us in the same group. He typed Teal Deer. Which I had seen in passing on some boards recently so I googled it and came up with the Urban Dictionary definition A bášŧárdìzáŧìøņ of “tl;dr”, which is a bášŧárdìzáŧìøņ of “Too long ; Didn’t read.” And I wondered if our attention span has really become that short.
Then there is JGI Just Google It or the more indelicate JFGI which is used more often when people who have the information dogpile on a n00b (or n00bee) for asking a simple question which could have been answered in a sentence or two. Now there are people out there who go onto various boards and try to get us to do their homework for them. I use to get that ALL the time when I worked the homework boards on AOL but we had a bunch of macros that we used to shut that down. There are the annoying ones who do ask a bunch of questions that I found out the answers in less than 20 seconds on Google. My personal favorite is the questions that included the phrase “And don’t tell me to google it because I can’t get google on my computer” This usually is with a request for something of a rather adult nature. To which it was explained to them why this would not help them at all.
Pwned is pretty much over now. Especially when major news organizations use it in their headlines, which makes it the death of da cool.
Then there is the whole LOLcat phenomenon. Which has strayed greatly from icanhascheezburger. There are now entire communities devoted to various forms of the LOLcat and fandom. In the interest of full disclosure, I do belong to a number of these communities. This is to the point that someone has tried to scientifically explain the phenomenon or pseudo- scientifically. Can I has an Explanation?.
The Language of the Internet is still growing and changing. Even as I type this, someone is coming up with the next phrase to be used. And they will for a short time pwn the Intra-Web.
I am grateful for things like the Urban Dictionary so I don’t feel like such a n00b at times.
I don’t think we’re seeing the closing act of Short Attention Span Theatre just yet. Rather, I think it’s a matter of there being So Much Out There and people recognizing there are only so many hours in the day to devote to it all. And of course there are people who tend to go on and on about things, using ten words where one will do. As ever, brevity is the soul of wit!
I tend to not read anything that is too long on the computer, whereas I can read a book or newspapaer straight through. Something about reading off the screen just irritates me after awhile. If it’s something that really interests me I will print it and then read it. So maybe there’s more to this than simply short attention spans.
OMG – I had never heard of the LOLcat till now – OK, label me n00b… but I just cracked up… now I have to go find more online… you’ve just ruined me, Kathleen!