Quote:
Originally Posted by GA Russell
These seem to me to be not words but initials (or in the case of "wassup", misspellings) of words long extant.
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I disagree.
These 'words' are used in a particular context; the fact they are used says something about the cultural background of the author. A friend's parents still use 'LOL' meaning 'love you lots'. The texting generation has taken word-groupings from the past and stamped them with their own significance.
I think most (younger) people who use text-speak abbreviations no longer think of the full words the acronyms stand for. If someone writes that something made them 'LOL', I expect it to be something they read on 4Chan or an internet meme, not the 'Four Candles' sketch from The Two Ronnies.
I'd love to check if a phrase like 'for the lulz' is now in the OED, and whether the new definition of 'anonymous' has made it in. If not, the OED is somewhat behind the curve. Part of the glory of being in an age in which language is once again being developed and enriched by those who use it is that the custodians of linguistic records will be of such an age that many of these developments will pass them by.
Sure, it's only a small proportion of the population who currently know what these words and phrases mean, but it's usually technology or sub-cultures that drive linguistic change anyway.