Oic Cya

What do these AOL types of abbreviations really mean? I know what people are trying to say - "oh i see" and "see you around" but am I the only one who finds them insulting and degrading?

When someone says OIC to me I feel like an adult has patted me on the head and told me I will understand when I grow up. When someone says CYA to me I feel like that person has told me I am a total reject they would rather not associate with.

Am I being too sensitive or reading too much into AOL type talk? Maybe my paranoia is kicking in earlier than I thought it would.

Your not the only person who objects to them. I don't find them insulting, though, I find them sad, on a number of levels. I'll use a few abbreviations now and then, but listening to some people talk in hardly anything but them...

Some days, I don't mind. I tell myself it's a symptom of a culture that stresses impatience and a fast-paced lifestyle.

Other days, I feel like this : http://bash.org/?4281

AOL style abbreviations I can handle, 'leet speak' and crosscasing I find a little grating..

ighih

A slow, painful death please for anyone who says kk.

I tend to think less of the AOL speakers and leet speakers because how you type is how you present yourself in a digital world, so if you want to be seen as an intelligent human being be as literate and clear as possible.

i'm lazy... i dun care what i type as long as its short and gets my point across

kk!

You may get your point across but it may not have the same impact you desire or have the impact you undesire because of this in the digital world:

wait a minute. i practically came to sl with no typing skills. obviously i stll have none. however over time i developed the ability to communicate. sometimes i will say i c. sometimes i will say k. its easier and faster for me. very simply i am struggling along trying to keep up with people talking around me and its just hard at times. if i try to get a word in edgewise it comes out like this if i am rushed. soomtin lik tis. so dont rush me, and leave me alone about how i type. i am doing the best that i can. fooey on alla you.

marilyn

I am guilty of kk hehe, to me is more of a cutsey thing

but the others (OIC, UR, TTFN, leet speak, etc...) bother me, it usually makes me have to think what it is that they are saying...

I think it's all amusing, but then, I'm assuming that people know how to communicate properly and just take shortcuts when they feel they can.

I tend to be a wordy bastid who types everything out. OTOH I find myself using things like OTOH, AFAIK, IIRC, et cetera automatically after many years of being online in one form or another. There's a balance, and that balance as much as the phrases and patterns you use becomes your voice. But also, a lot of times the abbreviations and shortcuts you use show which online subculture you've been a part of. So for me, OIC is an Orbital Ion Cannon, as in "/me enters Bill's location into the OIC's targeting system..."

When someone uses a bunch of abbreviations that don't scan for me, I can get a little frustrated. But I think for the cases the OP might be referring to, I'm already less than impressed by the bad grammar and miserable spelling. At the same time I try not to be too judgemental, because I *know* it will come back to haunt me sooner or later...

The internet is such a wonderful place to really get creative and write beautiful things. It's a pitty that so many seem to suffer from this disease so similar to that of Double Speak from the book 1984. The destruction of any language is an ugly thing, 'internet speach' is not a creation, it breaks down language in the exact same way as Doube Speak.

OIC

Yes

AAMOF ABITHIWTITB. AFAIC, AFZ's are just ADIH. ALTG so ATW can FITB. IYKWIMAITYD, NALOPKT it's best to KISS. LOL. If this was PDOMA, a PEBCAK.

Translation: As a matter of fact a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. As far as I'm concerned, acronym free zones are just a day in hell. Act locally, think globally so all the web can fill in the blanks. If you know what I mean and I think you do, not a lot of people know that it's best to keep in simple, stupid. Haha! If this was pulled directly out of my ass, a problem exists between my chair and keyboard.

Now that is a link, Buster!

Sometimes I feel stupid because I can't understand these things. But then I think maybe I don't want to communicate with someone who feels the need to shorten a THREE LETTER word.

i C U P lol!

Yeah, I think you are being overly-sensative. When people choose to use chat-speak, it's a reflection on them, not on the person they're speaking to. I just assume they're either lazy, semi-illiterate, or they don't feel that what they have to say is important enough to warrant the effort of making sure they're understood. (Alternately, that they're 12 years old, but I'm hoping that's not the case here.)

I, too, find it a little degrading sometimes, depending on who's saying it. I mean, before the internets, (in my world, at least), that's the only time someone would actually say "Oh, I see."-- when they were talking down to someone. So, to me, it still carries that air from time to time.

As for the rest of these God-forsaken abbreviations, I am constantly looking them up. I've been lucky enough to not ever really be in direct, prolonged contact with people who use them. But I have something that makes a lot of people just as confused as weirdo shortations: anime emoticons.

So, I mean, I understand that whole "subculture" of WTFBBQ people in some ways, what with always having to repeat yourself in terms someone understands, but that doesn't make me find it any less annoying. All of those net abbreviations have direct English translations. It's a little more difficult trying to explain to someone what ._. means. It's not that hard to just type "Oh, I see." when you compare it to typing "I'm looking at you in a strange and small way. Like I've recoiled slightly and shrank into my seat, but am still staring at you blankly because you've done something that has caused me to think you need to be watched carefully from a safe distance, you weirdo." every single time you want to make that face but know no one will understand it. And :| is really not the same thing at all.

ANYWAY. For the most part, netspeak is more annoying and confusing to me than anything. It's completely lazy and not everyone understands it and if you just TYPE YOUR WORDS OUT.... it would make the world a better place.

lololol

I would no more speak on the internet in gibberish than I would go to dinner with a friend wearing t-shirt and gym shorts, soiled with spaghetti sauce, sweat and rotten milk.

You gotta respect yourself and in so doing, show respect for other people. That I care enough to form a cogent, readable message for your reading shows that I respect you and that I respect the dialogue that I wish to share with you.

George Orwell got it only half correct--
The dictionaries in 2050 won't be newspeak words like "Minipax"; they'll contain an extended form of AOL acronyms.

Ahahaha. Well-put.