Rickrolling the English language

BY LOUISA HEARN

Whether it's Twitter, Facebook or a bunch of cheeseburger-loving kitties (LOLcats) causing the apparent carnage to our written word is not clear, but language experts say the dramatic pace at which technology continues to reinvent itself is filtering through to the mainstream world.

"I think Facebook and Twitter are a big part of the younger generation's lives. Of the language used online in blogs and chatrooms and on Facebook and Twitter, a little bit of that filters through into offline language, mostly as sort of a fashion statement," said Susan Butler, editor of the Macquarie Dictionary.

She cites the example of TMOZ (tomorrow) which even now turns up in spoken language.

The Macquarie Dictionary people's choice for 2009 was the word Tweet with the word cyberbully also getting an honourable mention, but popularity is no indication of longevity, and words can disappear almost as quickly as they turn up. Back in 2007, for instance, the Macquarie Dictionary word of the year was 'pod slurping' which it described as the downloading of large quantities of data to an MP3 player or memory stick.

Pam Peters, an emeritus professor of linguistics at Macquarie University says terms like 'malware' and 'cloud' that have grown up around computing should not be confused with the chatty language of SMS messaging and social media that tends to divide the generations.

"It is an interesting version of a very old problem. Our grandparents started life in a different type of community and the generational divide is highlighted by technological know-how or the lack of it. To them, the word wireless means radio but this was recreated in the '90s to mean Wi-Fi," she said.

LOL is another example, with many older people confusing the abbreviation for "laugh out loud" with the more sentimental "lots of love" sign off.

But the fear that all this abbreviated text language will defile the languages is not justified, Peters says .

"There is a stereotypical notion that SMS language being used by kids should be disregarded - and some people judge it very pessimistically. I am not sure there has been any evidence of kids making mistakes using SMS language in their assignments," she said.

Butler agrees. "Like any kind of code - it is there to save letters, like the cables used in the past. It is partly convenience, to save money and then it gets a kind of style about it."

Even more perplexing for the older generation are quirky online phenomena like Rickrolling, which perplexed lawyers during the trial of the man accused of hacking into the email account of US politician Sarah Palin.

Essentially a prank that directs users to a video of 80's musician Rick Astley, a rickroll is generally perpetrated under the guise of being something else.

According to Butler, if it turns up with great frequency then it's likely to have a more lasting impact on the language.

"To get into the mainstream print dictionary it would take around three years of usage for a word - although dictionaries are increasingly able to manage even those little freakish word events that happen as they move online," said Butler.

Glossary:

Tweet - short post on microblogging site Twitter

w00t - a term of excitement

lol - laugh out loud

ROFL - rolling on floor laughing

Rickroll - to misdirect someone to a video of 80's crooner Rick Astley

LOLcat - cute cat photo with pidgin kitty-speak superimposed on the image

Torrent - a file downloaded by filesharing website BitTorrent

Meme - concept or joke that spreads widely via the internet

Lurker - follows a forum without posting a comment

Troll - posts provocative forum comments to stir up an argument

LULZ - humour (often at another's expense)

POS - parents over shoulder

SOZ -sorry

TMOZ - tomorrow

WTF - What the f**k

TMI - too much information

IMHO - In my humble opinion

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