Several years ago, I took up texting.  And Twitter.  And Facebook.  And other forms of social communication through the quickly written word.  I fell in love with it and how it was so easily integrated into my life.  I use it daily and nightly.  It is how I communicate with my kids.  It is how I communicate with extended family, with friends, with co-workers and I also use in my marketing efforts for my company.  I love the speed of delivery, as well as the speed of receipt.

The hand-written letter was a thing of the past as more homes installed telephones.  Telephones conversations became a thing of the past as personal computers became more popular and email was adopted.  Cell phones took oral communication on the road and we saw a resurgence of the spoken communication, that is until texting and mobile internet.  Now, a whole new kind of shorthand has been invented and accepted by almost everyone. 

I am all about shortcuts, but being a passionate English student, I have been unable to embrace some of the acronyms that grace status updates and text messages today.  IMHO – really?  If it were truly your “humble” opinion, you’d keep it to yourself.  ROFL (which I thought was cute) has now given way to ROFLMAO – which is an image I don’t really need.  But, interestingly enough, the one I have never been able to get behind and literally have never used, ever?  LOL – it was even hard for me to type it here.  I hate it.  I can’t stand it. I am not completely humorless, I will write haha or hehe if I read something or come across something funny.

Why do I refuse to LOL?  It may have something to do with my language sensibilities, it also bothers me that it gets plugged in at the end of almost every online sentence, and it just grinds on me, like downshifting to first gear in a 1967 VW.   

Words are important to me.  I try not to be careless with my own brand of humor.  I will laugh at what you say, but rarely laugh at my own jokes.  LOL dropped at the end of your own sentence is like saying, “Don’t I look pretty?”  Umm, well, no – actually you don’t.  Wit or humor should naturally occur in the receiver, not be ferociously primed like the driest pump in Oklahoma, or require an ill-written provocation.  This is the only time you will ever see me write this overused non-word and totally unworthy acronym.  You can expect full sentences and commas in my texts and tweets. 

by rayannethorn