IM Grammar vs. Bad Grammer

 

Defined by Merriam-Websters dictionary:

gram·mar

Pronunciation:

\ˈgra-mər\

Function:

noun

1 a: the study of the classes of words, their inflections, and their functions and relations in the sentence b: a study of what is to be preferred and what avoided in inflection and syntax2 a: the characteristic system of inflections and syntax of a language b: a system of rules that defines the grammatical structure of a language3 a: a grammar textbook b: speech or writing evaluated according to its conformity to grammatical rules4: the principles or rules of an art, science, or technique grammar of the theater> ; also : a set of such principles or rules

— gram·mar·i·an \grə-ˈmer-ē-ən\ noun

Today we rarely use these rules to form well thought out sentences to communicate with each other.  Mostly it's fractured ideas, run on tangents, and with the invention of the internet, a more widely used set of acronyms.

I remember in the 80's with the show Murphy Brown the letters FYI.  And I wondered what that was.  Not until later did I start using it instead of saying, "for your information," and I thought i was so cool!  And then 90's ushered in a new world to me as I learned to sprinkle the word "like" and "um" into all my like, um, sentences... you know!

A few years followed and I entered the digital age with all my nerdy compatriots as we charted the unexplored realm of Al Gore's self proclaimed backyard - or as we know it today, the internet.  Intrepid were we, taking our pencil and paper D & D characters and posting them on our BBS's.  And thus was my first exposure to IM (instant messaging) shorthand.

With the explosion of ICQ and AIM, MSN messenger and iChat we see more and more people being exposed to all the ROTFLOL's and what's worse is that it's leaking into our spoken language.  A few nights ago I was thinking about this blog and I actually heard a girl yell at her friend "LOL" and I thought that it would have probably be easier to actually laugh then to communicate it that way.  Toss in some bad grammar and we form ideas and thoughts that would not be understood by any generations then those exposed to computers and more importantly, the internet.

For the direction of language today, as long as the other person can understand what you are saying it doesn't really matter how poor your grammar is.  The art of communicating will always be changing, and I am not a conservative, I just keep "WTF" to the interweb and "FUCK OFF" to the people who deserve it the most - assholes that say "OMG" and "LOL" out loud.