Topic awaiting preservation: Cyber-Slang ? (Page 1 of 1)

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The latest in computer jargon and slang terms have made it into the new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English.
'Cyberslackers' (workers who spend all day on the web), 'data smog' (the wealth of often-contradictory facts and figures online) and 'egosurfing' (looking for references to yourself online) are all included in the latest dictionary, along with more than 3,000 other words..

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Hmm ? What ? I'm not opposed to including neologies bound to technologies in dictionnaries... But this is going in the wrong way in my opinion.

I don't want to open someday a dictionnary for "n00bs" and find in it entries about "pr0n" or "b31ng 3l1t3", and then being said, "2l8". We're not at this point now (fortunately), but this is preocupating to me.

Thoughts ?



[This message has been edited by Moon Shadow (edited 08-22-2003).]

Language evolves with major happenings or geographic splits, some more dramatic than others. A friend of mine is French-Canadian, and he has a hard time communicating when in Paris. Not to mention the differences between the States and England. Several funky dialects here in the states. Hell, even here within Michigan, the Yuppers speak very differently from us Trolls - and not just a different accent. Ever heard of ebonics?

What do I think of the new "language" as a result of the internet? It's only natural and I'm not going to bother with being annoyed or trying to fight it.

I recommend keeping your old dictionary.

I guess I would like a dictionary as I have no idea what the hell "b31ng 3l1t3" or "2l8". means.

Just getting old I guess.

I think (I'm just guessing here as I have as little real idea as you do) that they mean, respectivley:

"Being Elite"; and

"Too Late"

d00d, 1 r 1337 h4xx0r 4nD d1s d1k5huNn4rY 15 d4 b0m

Even "proper English" dictionaries define words incorrectly.

31337 is elite.
1337 is leet.

So to spell elite you spell it wrong? Even by the letter-equivilants of your own alphabet? Becuase by the equivilant letters you've just spelled elite 'eleet'.

So The spelling up there of 3l1t3 is the correct spelling for elite.

It's (wannabe) "HaX0r speek", Skaarjj! The 2600 guys laugh at people who use it, and even those who have numbers in their alias.

_________________________
A devil's work is never done.

Skaarj - Kinda like when you see "White Supremacy" tagged on a wall somewhere, except they misspell it, haha.

[edit: OK, not so much the same, but funny in a similar kinda way

[This message has been edited by Lord_Fukutoku (edited 08-23-2003).]

Or the people who reply to me referencing me by name, yet spell it wrong!

I think I've seen a total of 10 people in this board spell my name right...oh well...I'll live with it

Everything you ever wanted to know... hehe.
http://www.planetquake.com/turkey/l33t_a.htm
http://www.geocities.com/mnstr_2000/translate.html


It's only after we've lost everything...
That we're free to do anything...

Warjournal :

Language indeed evolves, as humans do. French or Canadian French are very similar, as English and American are, for example. The difference with this Internet language is that it is just a bashing of the actual language. It happens also in French, people start writing only with sonorities and replacing letters by something else. It wouldn't bother me on Internet, but the fact is that it is spreading in schools etc. Young teens who lived their few years of Internet into this wave of re-spelling most of the time don't know how to write properly. And if dictionnaries start praising those words, our dialects will quickly become 5+up1d l4m3 5p33ch35. Perhaps it is useless to fight it, but I am just regretful of this evolution.

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.
William Shakespeare

Okay... I live in a place where most people don't have proper English (American). I don't like the fact that they try to use internet slang and other spellings for words when they can barely spell it right in the first place.
I don't know if all of this makes sense, but oh well. Many people mistake certain words for others... It's annoying... And I happen to be a sort of person whom when I hear something pronounced or stated incorrectly, I feel like I have to correct it, but I don't do it on purpose. I moved here. I wasn't born here... Anyway, later.

MichaelAndrewChristopher

I think it's fair play to include cyberslang in the dictionary as long as it is noted as cyberslang in there.

things like "omfg!!!1 1 15

i should've also noted this, txt tlk should also be left out.

at least "cyberslacker" is in english.

Moonshadow - while I understand your point, and I agree with it to an extent, you ahve to realize that these are the very ways in which language evolves. People begin to mispell and misuse words, and eventually their spelling and meaning simply change.

That has *always* been the way things have worked. The majority of the words we use today are the direct result of incorrect spelling and phoenetic mutilations of what the words once were.

This particular case isn't extreme at all....it's new terms for new circumstances.

Yes and I am digging this topic up out of the recent grave to add on my two cents.

A teacher reported that she had received a hand written report, and it contained txttlk on it... Almost 20% of it was as if it had been translated over IM. There are some instances where its almost acceptable... such as when you only have one hand free at the moment or if you don't have time to respond fully... But typing "see you l@ter" or using l33t 5

I had a linguistics prof many years ago who started out the class by saying, "Anything spoken or written by an adult, native English speaker is, by those two criteria alone, proper English."
DL is right. Language evolves.

That being said, there are also appropriate times and places for certain 'dialects'.
English, or at least American English, is actually quite unique in that we often do not admit to there being a different 'language' based on the situation. I remember Suho wrote a piece some time ago about how, in Korea, people use different words, different language, based on their social situation.

'leet' speak, for however stupid I think it is, is legitimate english simply because it is written by an adult, native english speaker. It has its uses -- its appropriate and inappropriate social situations -- but it is language; it is legitimate and proper language, and it belongs in a dictionary.
Slang and jargon even more so.