The Use of LOL!

It's becoming more frustrating to see people use acronyms than actually stating their feelings. LOL, ROTFL, BRB, K (really, shorting 'OK' to 'K'... but I'll get to that later). All these things that make it worse for our children in their quest to be good spellers, understand grammar and be literate.

But the most frustrating thing is that some of these acronyms, like LOL are only being used to hide a person's true feelings. For instance, I had a chat conversation the other day with a so-called friend who didn't like that I was talking to their enemy. I wrote back to say that I will speak to whomever I choose, and if they have a problem with them, then that's their problem not mine... and the reply I got back was 'LOL.' Now how does 'laughing out loud' make any sense in that conversation? Is it that they didn't want to make out that it wasn't a big deal, or that they were gritting their teeth while trying to accept that I would talk to their enemy, were they being spiteful or is it something that's used to just end the topic of conversation?  I just don't know.

But it makes me question other conversations I've had over the years where I felt that LOL was written inappropriately. Is it also a sign that people are afraid to be honest, or shot down if they are honest, so they try to hide behind those three little letters to show they aren't hurt by what is being said? I think that's the crux of it... LOL hides the hurt.

As for 'K'... I recently discovered that 'K' is a brush off. It's like a person doesn't want to try in the relationship anymore. They are either tired of the conversation, the person or where it's all going, so they do the smallest amount of acknowledgement they possibly can by just writing 'K'. And if they really don't want to make an effort, they don't push down the 'caps' button, and just write 'k.'

Are we going into a new decade with coded language? Will these abbreviations, feelings behind the abbreviations or acronyms actually be taught and explained to our children through the formal education systems? It really would be a sad day if that was the case. I can understand at university level the studying these newly found words, or should I say 'conjoined letters,' as an understanding of language progression, but to have the Oxford Dictionary accept that they acronyms form part of our formal English language is truly a disgrace. Can't they see that this is just a trend for today, and in 10 or 20 years time, there will be another round of slang terms that we face ourselves with? And that our English language traditions will remain?

I just worry about how our children will be able to perform in business, university and the real world if their language skills are shortened to acronyms, without understanding the true meaning or origins behind the acronym because that's how they communicate in their everyday life. We need to go back to studying Latin, linguistics and syntax so that our children understand prefixes, suffixes and which language the words come from so they understand the 'root.'

But for now, it's just LOL, and we just deal with what is happening in our bastardised world of language.