Internet Shorthand 6

[Dimandja]

Do you have any interesting examples of creative ways people use their keyboards to express themselves online?

Also, many popular expressions have been reduced to an alphabet soup that I find hard to digest. For instance "AFAIK" --- my stomach still turned even when I found out what it stands for. And, what in the world is "IMO"? :s

 

[ESquared]

I learned about googol plex in elementary school, I think, so lots of people should know it. On the other hand, knowing it at one time and remembering it are two different things.

 

[Stella740pl]

Oh, and sorry for "It's was a play on...", I meant to say "It was a play on...". I've just noticed my error. If a right forum for a mistake like this exists at all, this is not the one.

 

[LesleyW]

Greg -

Just my $.02

Is this so very recent? and how does it emerge from modern technology? I thought it was older, but admit to not knowing the origin.

 

[AnotherHiggins]

gbaughma,

While I've seen it many times, I just now noticed that your tag line - or 'siggie' (another colloquialism from the information age) – contains an errant apostrophe. The possessive of "it" isn't "it's", it's "its". thread1256-827906 discussed this very thing!

And speaking of your siggie, what ever happened to the good 'ole "cent sign"? You know, the vertical line through a "C". I miss that little guy. I suppose the penny has been so devalued that it isn’t worth having this representation on the keyboard anymore.

John

 

[sleipnir214]

LeslieW:
If you are asking about "two cents worth", I only found an article at word-detective.com:

"Two cents" or "two-center" has been a slang synonym for "very cheap" since the middle of the 19th century, when the cheapest cigar available was literally a "two- center." The U.S. Treasury Department actually issued a two-cent coin in 1864, which was, incidentally, the first U.S. coin to bear the motto "In God We Trust." The government, evidently feeling frisky in a monetary sort of way, also issued coins in three-cent and twenty-cent denominations during the same period.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[AnotherHiggins]

LesleyW

Not to speak for Greg, but you seem to have misread his post. Greg listed recent colloquialisms including "Just google for..." and "Text me..."

"Just my $.02" wasn't included in this list; it is a part of the signature that appears at the bottom of all of his posts:

Just my $.02

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify it's owner." --Me
--Greg

Hope that clears things up!

John

 

[ESquared]

I think that if you are going to give a monetary amount in dollars and cents, you should use a leading zero:

$0.02

(Just my 2[¢] worth!)

 

[BJCooperIT]

See:

http://www.word-detective.com/back-k.html#cents

[sup]Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.[/sup][sup] ~George Bernard Shaw[/sup]
Systems Project Analyst/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle/Windows

 

[xaqster]

I can't remember who it was, but I seem to remember that when $PROGRAMMER was asked what the biggest problem in computing was going to be in the next 10 years he replied "There are only 17,576 TLA's"


Xaqster

 

[Skullmeister]

My friend told me a better one for MS(Microsoft Sucks). That's how she registered her Windows XP(X-tremely Problematic). Every time the error message ask if she wants to send the error report, she DOES just to get her point across. She also informed me of one of the biggest oxymorons out there: Microsoft Works.

 

[gbaughma]

Great..... now I gotta find and edit my "siggie".

After I have a Ciggy.

Or something.

Just my $.02

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify it's owner." --Me
--Greg

 

[ESquared]

Greg, if you're going to fix your siggie, would you please remove the apostrophe, too?

Thanks!

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A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.

 

[jwenting]

it gets worse and worse.
I can stand the FLAs and TLAs, they're a fact of life.
But when people start using "u" instead of "you" and "ou", "y" instead of "why", "v" instead of "we" it goes too far.
Mix it with hacker speak (something which no self-respecting hacker would use, only crackers and other lowlifes) it surpasses comprehension.

Wuld u tell me y i shuld not kazaa that 1337 tune?

 

[ESquared]

Just in case someone doesn't know, 1337 is the word elite, twisted and distorted. Think the letter L, named, plus [/i]eet[/i], pronounced. Then switch letters for numbers as follows:

A 4
E 3
L 1
O 0
T 7

ph34r me! I am an 1337 hax0r!

Fear me! I am an elite hacker!



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A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.

 

[ESquared]

I previewed!!! I just hit the wrong button! Blast it!

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A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.

 

[CasperTFG]

Sorry ESquared you got that wrong. Should be.

Ph34|2 m3! I am teh 1337 h4><o|2

Casper

There is room for all of gods creatures, "Right Beside the Mashed Potatoes".

 

[ESquared]

I can read that, but how many people can? It's all Battle.Net's fault.

You can go to ludicrous lengths, I've even seen things like the following:

3|2][|< 3C|<|-|4|2|)7 (my name, sorry I don't know how to obscure 'C')



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A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.

 

[rosieb]

Maybe it's just me, but if I can't understand this type of abbreviation immediately, I ignore it. If someone is trying to communicate with me, they've failed - and (strangely ) I don't feel I've missed anything important.

Rosie
"Never express yourself more clearly than you think" (Niels Bohr)

 

[ESquared]

rosieb,

That's the point, people who use this kind of lettering (spelling? what?) are not trying to communicate with you. They're trying to obscure their meaning so only a few understand.

It was a long time before I realized that graffiti often has English words in it, one just has to look carefully to discern the distorted letters.

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A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.

 

[rosieb]

ESquared
I'm not sure. I think they want people to puzzle over the meaning and make an effort to decipher it, that makes them feel clever. And they want to be applauded for their "cleverness" by a similar reply.

I cannot be bothered, life's too short.

On the other hand, really clever / good use of language doesn't need applause, it stands for itself. Somehow it's not looking for praise.

Rosie
"Never express yourself more clearly than you think" (Niels Bohr)