Poll: LOL and OMG are now words?

[ScoopMeister]

I'm not sure I understand what the big issue is. Its just a dictionary.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

This has set a precedent. Prepare to watch civilization crumble.

I'm pretty sure Chaucer was criticised for "ruining" the language, and Shakespeare used to just make words up.

It isn't the language I'm worried about; it's the potential for the internet to leak into public life. I can say to you now that I will facepalm for eternity if I start hearing comedians and politicians using LOL and OMG.

 

[Ickorus]

I have an idea, why don't they make a dictionary listing popular slang words instead of adding slang words to the real dictionary.

 

[The .50 Caliber Cow]

No. I do not accept. You do not go past go.

I have seen the internet and I do not want to see it in my newspaper.

 

[Woodsey]

This has set a precedent. Prepare to watch civilization crumble.

I'm pretty sure Chaucer was criticised for "ruining" the language, and Shakespeare used to just make words up.

It isn't the language I'm worried about; it's the potential for the internet to leak into public life. I can say to you now that I will facepalm for eternity if I start hearing comedians and politicians using LOL and OMG.

That's called "evolution of language". If people start using it then people start using it, I'm not really short what the issue is - they're just shorthand, and only said by most people as an ironic thing anyway. Especially lol.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

That's called "evolution of language". If people start using it then people start using it, I'm not really short what the issue is - they're just shorthand, and only said by most people as an ironic thing anyway. Especially lol.

Eh, call me a dinosaur then.

 

[Treefingers]

...you can't even say lol when smiling or laughing...

What? Yes i can...

Back on topic... OH NO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS DEVELOPING HOW WILL I EVER COPE SINCE I'M SUCH AN ELITIST PRICK.

It's actually not that bigger deal. New words are invented quite frequently.

 

[Treefingers]

A third of us think it should be in there?

They are just commonly used acronyms, they aren't words, by admitting these, you open the door to any acronym, if it gets popular enough.

abbreviations are words now?

What, like scuba? Or radar?

I have seen the internet and I do not want to see it in my newspaper.

There are plenty of words in the dictionary that have no place in the newspaper. I think you misunderstand the point of dictionaries.

That's called "evolution of language". If people start using it then people start using it, I'm not really short what the issue is - they're just shorthand, and only said by most people as an ironic thing anyway. Especially lol.

Eh, call me a dinosaur then.

Thou art a dinosaur.

 

[Conza]

A third of us think it should be in there?

They are just commonly used acronyms, they aren't words, by admitting these, you open the door to any acronym, if it gets popular enough.

abbreviations are words now?

What, like scuba? Or radar?

Well, I can't speak for Mr. Finch58, however, those are more acceptable as they evolved from technology, these words evolved from primary school kids who were too lazy to write full words. But point well taken, perhaps english is ready to devolve further, as it did when it included those words. Next it'll be C, U, 2, Y, , [ect]. I'm not convinced that adding LOL and OMG to the official vocabulary is a step forward, I doubt whether or not Scuba or Radar were even questioned when they were added, and that questionable factor alone, has to say
something.

EDIT: Interesting, as time has gone on, now only a quarter of participants think these words should be in the dictionary.

 

[Treefingers]

A third of us think it should be in there?

They are just commonly used acronyms, they aren't words, by admitting these, you open the door to any acronym, if it gets popular enough.

abbreviations are words now?

What, like scuba? Or radar?

Well, I can't speak for Mr. Finch58, however, those are more acceptable as they evolved from technology, these words evolved from primary school kids who were too lazy to write full words. But point well taken, perhaps english is ready to devolve further, as it did when it included those words. Next it'll be C, U, 2, Y, , [ect]. I'm not convinced that adding LOL and OMG to the official vocabulary is a step forward, I doubt whether or not Scuba or Radar were even questioned when they were added, and that questionable factor alone, has to say
something.

I see your point, but the difference between why/y, see/c or you/u is that lol and omg carry meanings independent of 'laugh out loud' or 'oh my god'. When was the last time you typed 'lol' whilst actually laughing? Saying 'lol' or 'omg' out loud have a certain irony that doesn't have an equivalent in the English language.

Of course it's a step forward for the language, as it is recognising another form of expression that otherwise can't be expressed in the exact same way. To not add them would be to handicap ourselves. Just because it's a term that you seem to think is beneath you doesn't take away the fact that it has something to add in its own right.

As for the questionable factor, you think that no other words have been questioned before their addition to the dictionary? You think that people didn't look at Shakespeare with one raised eyebrow when he first wrote the word 'puking'?

EDIT: Interesting, as time has gone on, now only a quarter of participants think these words should be in the dictionary.

A mark of The Escapist's elitism, nothing more.

 

[Treefingers]

In 10 years we'll still be using most of the words in the dictionary but no one will be saying OMG or LOL.

The Oxford English Dictionary currently has about 600,000 words.

I'm quite sure that not all of them are used in the everyday conversation of 2011, so I really don't think that ought to be a requirement for their inclusion there.

 

[Conza]

A third of us think it should be in there?

They are just commonly used acronyms, they aren't words, by admitting these, you open the door to any acronym, if it gets popular enough.

abbreviations are words now?

What, like scuba? Or radar?

Well, I can't speak for Mr. Finch58, however, those are more acceptable as they evolved from technology, these words evolved from primary school kids who were too lazy to write full words. But point well taken, perhaps english is ready to devolve further, as it did when it included those words. Next it'll be C, U, 2, Y, , [ect]. I'm not convinced that adding LOL and OMG to the official vocabulary is a step forward, I doubt whether or not Scuba or Radar were even questioned when they were added, and that questionable factor alone, has to say
something.

I see your point, but the difference between why/y, see/c or you/u is that lol and omg carry meanings independent of 'laugh out loud' or 'oh my god'. When was the last time you typed 'lol' whilst actually laughing? Saying 'lol' or 'omg' out loud have a certain irony that doesn't have an equivalent in the English language.

Of course it's a step forward for the language, as it is recognising another form of expression that otherwise can't be expressed in the exact same way. To not add them would be to handicap ourselves. Just because it's a term that you seem to think is beneath you doesn't take away the fact that it has something to add in its own right.

As for the questionable factor, you think that no other words have been questioned before their addition to the dictionary? You think that people didn't look at Shakespeare with one raised eyebrow when he first wrote the word 'puking'?

Actually I think u/2/c are individual letters so they probably just can't be. I don't believe that omg carries a different meaning, to me, but lol I'd have to give concession for, maybe that does mean more than its individual words allow. Typing is one thing, but actually saying these words, that?s another.

Well it?s a simplification in the language, that much is certain, and there are ways to see that as a merit and a disadvantage, such as 'math' a shortening of a shortening for mathematics (maths is the original shortening). I don't follow how we'd be handicapped by, almost the exact same number of people would use the words before and after its addition. Just to clarify, the term isn't so much beneath me, I simply don't respect the decision of Oxford to add it to the language as I believe it devalues it more ways than it enriches it.

Shakespeare, ah. More true of the word 'bubble', if I'm not mistaken.

EDIT: Interesting, as time has gone on, now only a quarter of participants think these words should be in the dictionary.

A mark of The Escapist's elitism, nothing more.

I'd have to strongly disagree with you there. Just because the majority of this 300 odd sample, agree it's ridiculous (although, some what unimportant a fact it may be), that doesn't instantly make us all elitists does it? I think that's a bit harsh, not the mention untrue anyway.

 

[Sonicron]

EDIT: Interesting, as time has gone on, now only a quarter of participants think these words should be in the dictionary.

A mark of The Escapist's elitism, nothing more.

I'd have to strongly disagree with you there. Just because the majority of this 300 odd sample, agree it's ridiculous (although, some what unimportant a fact it may be), that doesn't instantly make us all elitists does it? I think that's a bit harsh, not the mention untrue anyway.

I, too, do not believe that this result has much to do with elitism on the Escapist. In my opinion, a fair amount of people who voted (and perhaps also commented) on this topic are too ignorant of the subject matter to form an informed opinion. This is not meant as an insult; the linguistic concepts at the core of this topic/discussion are simply not covered in-depth in school, and a lot of the users on these forums are still in school, and most of them will never learn of them unless they go on to study a language subject at university/college.

 

[quantumsoul]

They should be in the dictionary but it should also state that these words are only typed, never spoken.

Maybe a separate section for text only words like those.

 

[Dorian]

Fuck no.

From now on, when people use these in conversation with me, I will refer them to Google one of the various horrors of the Internet.

Just because the majority of this 300 odd sample, agree it's ridiculous (although, some what unimportant a fact it may be), that doesn't instantly make us all elitists does it? I think that's a bit harsh, not the mention untrue anyway.

It's been true since as long as I've been here.

Escapist is synonymous with elitist, be it one form or another. Why do you think most people here get their panties in a bunch whenever someone mentions 4Chan, casual gaming, or misuse the English language?

 

[Brandon237]

Technically, the dictionary is correct.
But I still cringe when I hear them in public, especially in the wrong context.
"I bit my tongue, lol.""Lol, a smartcar went by.""I just ate lol."
There should not be lols there, unless the tongue biting resulted in blood, the smartcar crashed because the driver was an idiot and the food contained E. Coli.

 

[alittlepepper]

Though I voted no, technically an acronym is still a word.
Driving the point a few feet deeper into the ground...maybe I'll get to the Mantle...

ac·ro·nym   
[ak-ruh-nim]
?noun
1.
a word formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of words in a set phrase or series of words, as Wac from Women's army Corps, OPEC from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or loran from long-range navigation.
2.
an acrostic.

Edit: I still do not imagine "lol" or "omg" being used in casual conversation by speaking human beings, so I'm not sure it belongs in a dictionary.

 

[SilentCom]

It's probably already mentioned here but those aren't words. They're acronyms. When people say OMG and LOL, they say the letters. It would be a little awkward for people to say "lawl" or... omg...
I guess they're not the first acronyms to become words though, the word laser is an acronym for light amplified stimulated emission of radiation.

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

holy fuck language evolves

what is happening oh god the world is ending

 

[GeekFury]

ANYONE that uses LOL or OMG with me in real life, either ends up with my unending hate or with my boot so far up their backside they're flossing their teeth with my laces. People like that should be steralized or culled from the human race to stop their idiocy poluting the gene pool.