Online communication is different from personal face-to-face communication; the main difference is that one is personal and one is impersonal. I never really gave my writing style any thought until now. The difference in occasion has to do with everything, whatever the situation may be, my writing style differs from one thing to another. First of all, I am a computer gamer, and I spend quite a lot on the computer; yeah I’m sort of a nerd. I noticed that online communication has a lot of different sub-cultures. Depending on what you spend most of your time on the Internet, you’ll encounter many different styles. If you’re into online gaming you’re familiar with gaming terms such as -- noob, 1337, pwned ,etc. And if you’re into forums you’ll be susceptible to flaming if you type in a way that shows little pronunciations or little grammar at all; well, at least the ones I visit.
When I communicate online, I usually do not worry about grammar. I think, it also depends where you communicate online, sometimes the “grammar nazi’s” are looked down upon for trying too hard to pick on people that don’t bother spelling correctly or using correct grammar. When I communicate, I try to construct my sentences that are straight to the point, even if I have to break a few rules of grammar. I don’t necessarily compose with more detail because the Internet has the luxury of using emoticons. Emoticons is a luxury because it could express moods that are simple, and straight to the point. For example, adding -- lol, :D, :P, XD; is a great way to end a sentence to express emotions. Instead of saying, “Yeah I thought that was funny”; you could simply express that by saying “lol”. Or if you thought something was really funny, you could say, “LOL, LOLOL, or rofl, lmao.”
Generally, I am casual when it comes to online communication, unless of course I have to talk to professors or my older relatives via emails. I try to be more formal, and limit my use of emoticons, because normally my relatives do not understand the normal Internet fads, or emoticons. I think there is a communication barrier present even in the online community, the Internet has many sub-cultures -- gaming, forums, chat-rooms, video blogs. There will always be a separation of people and this will create certain language barriers, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that one can not understand each other, it’s just a matter of taking the extra effort into making clearer and not so exotic terms for each other. For example, I won’t be using phrases like, “lol noob l2cook grandma. olive oil > vegetable oil :P.” when I send emails to my grandma, it’ll probably just confuse her.
I think your style in online communication can say a lot about your character, and people can label others just by seeing his or her style when typing online. A lot of people I talk to will probably know a little about my background, they’ll probably figure out I play video games and spend a great deal online because I use and understand a lot of Internet terms and phrases.
When I communicate online, I usually do not worry about grammar. I think, it also depends where you communicate online, sometimes the “grammar nazi’s” are looked down upon for trying too hard to pick on people that don’t bother spelling correctly or using correct grammar. When I communicate, I try to construct my sentences that are straight to the point, even if I have to break a few rules of grammar. I don’t necessarily compose with more detail because the Internet has the luxury of using emoticons. Emoticons is a luxury because it could express moods that are simple, and straight to the point. For example, adding -- lol, :D, :P, XD; is a great way to end a sentence to express emotions. Instead of saying, “Yeah I thought that was funny”; you could simply express that by saying “lol”. Or if you thought something was really funny, you could say, “LOL, LOLOL, or rofl, lmao.”
Generally, I am casual when it comes to online communication, unless of course I have to talk to professors or my older relatives via emails. I try to be more formal, and limit my use of emoticons, because normally my relatives do not understand the normal Internet fads, or emoticons. I think there is a communication barrier present even in the online community, the Internet has many sub-cultures -- gaming, forums, chat-rooms, video blogs. There will always be a separation of people and this will create certain language barriers, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that one can not understand each other, it’s just a matter of taking the extra effort into making clearer and not so exotic terms for each other. For example, I won’t be using phrases like, “lol noob l2cook grandma. olive oil > vegetable oil :P.” when I send emails to my grandma, it’ll probably just confuse her.
I think your style in online communication can say a lot about your character, and people can label others just by seeing his or her style when typing online. A lot of people I talk to will probably know a little about my background, they’ll probably figure out I play video games and spend a great deal online because I use and understand a lot of Internet terms and phrases.
So the first thing I want to ask is if you could explain what 12cook grandma or olive oil > vegetable oil :P means. I have no idea what you could be talking about and you probably have guessed that I do not play online gaming. But other than that I agree with your blog. Online language is much more relaxed than language in the everyday life. It is not so hampered by the rules of grammar and that allows online users to create new fads in communication. I love my emoticons and I use them in every post on Facebook and every text that I send. But that is where my fads end. I think that my communication is pretty similar to the language that I use in real life, it still may be a bit more relaxed but it is still close. I agree with the relaxation and fads that you talked about, and how there are different divisions online. Like your whole vegetable oil thing that I could not understand, that shows that I am not part of that subgenre of the Internet. But on the whole most people enjoy the freedom that the Internet style of communication allows them.
ReplyDeleteI laughed at "l2cook grandma, olive oil > vegetable oil." And to respond to the comment above me, that means "learn how to cook grandma. olive oil is greater than vegetable oil (olive oil is better and healthier than vegetable oil)." People use ">" or "<" to indicate what they think is better. So for example, iphone > Android means "I think the iphone is a lot better than the android."
ReplyDeleteIt is nice that you mentioned the different sub-cultures’ language online. I totally forgot about it. Like myself, I understand the language in the gaming community, but I know little about the forum world. I remember you always saying “awesome out of 10” or “gay out of 10” which I had no idea what it meant until you showed me the GameFaqs forums. And I remember when we used to type “lol ecks dee” or “lol i ecks dee’d” (for those of you who do not get it, ecks dee means “xD.” It’s just another from of laughing or literally making a facial expression that is similar to “xD.” And by adding “ ‘d, ” it works like a past tense, similar to adding ed after a verb). It’s so weird remembering at the fact that we use to type like that. I no longer use any of those. I should probably start again just for fun. XD lololol joo noob. ktnxbai! <3
1337 FTW dood!! LMAO!!! Okay enough with that. I do not actually use that kind of speech ever because I just choose not to and I prefer to communicate only using a proper internet communication etiquette, if there is one that is. But if there is one I would like to think that I am a strong user of that principle. But believe it or not, not just computer gamers use the "1337/LEET SPEEK" and say words "pwnd, n00b, etc.". But I digress, what I am trying to say that if someone talks like that, it does not mean that the person is an online/computer gamer.
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact, most people do not know I am a gamer unless I have a spaz attack over a "cool/well-known" game or if they so happen to listen to a game's original soundtrack song on my iTouch. However me being a gamer sounds completely contrast to my usual demeanor because I usually do not say much about myself because in a way I feel that most people have no business knowing anything about me unless I want them to know. I guess finding out that I am a gamer would be a "in-the-moment" surprise kind of thing.