*shakes cane*

[anghraine]

I'm morbidly curious if the people who constantly tack "lol" or "lmao" onto their arguments (for lack of a better word) actually think it adds an impression of amused superiority, or if ... idk, they're just trying to be irritating.

I suppose it's a bit of a "kids these days!" thing, but it seems a common fandom convention more than anything else. I certainly see adults using it all the time. In any case, it's probably my single least favourite fandom trend. No, above-it-all superiority isn't a cogent argument. And the likes of AGE GAPS ARE PEDOPHILIA LOL aren't exactly convincing as above-it-all, anyway.

Comments

[makamu]

I have the tendency to put smileys at the end of my comments, but I use that to convey a sense of no hard feelings no matter how hard debate gets. The "lol" trend annoys me as well, especially in the anti-context you used as an example above. And a sense of smug superiority is the only way this might still make sense - albeit that makes it no less annoying.

[workday_dreamer]

"Smug superiority" makes sense to me too. The "lol" or "lmao" also seems to be pretty sarcastic, whereas I haven't seen smileys used that way yet. Something to do with the human brain recognising smileys as actual human expressions maybe.

[makamu]

Yes, and the fact that they are used like that now makes me feel like a grouchy Internet-old sometimes. Because I still use both to share fun rather than make fun.

By the way, I have also seen smileys used as condenscending - though that was mostly on reddit where a certain kind of geeky superiority is the standard of conduct in most subs, I fear.

[workday_dreamer]

That's probably why I haven't seen it yet. The nerdiest places I go on the internet are a very narrow section of 4chan, where emoticons are frowned on.

It'd be pretty interesting from a linguistics perspective to see how smileys and things like "lol" affect English as a whole over a long period of time. Although, this is maybe all too niche and transitory to have a lasting impact on our language.

[makamu]

It'd be pretty interesting from a linguistics perspective to see how smileys and things like "lol" affect English as a whole over a long period of time. Although, this is maybe all too niche and transitory to have a lasting impact on our language.

Well, I know of a rather famous German linguist that works on precisely that topic - and the use of emoticons as a language on the Internet, so I am sure the man has colleagues in the Anglosphere.

[workday_dreamer]

Oooh, that sounds interesting! I'll have to do some googling! Thanks ;)

[makamu]

You're welcome! Here is the name of the German linguist to start you off: Anatol Stefanowitsch And here is his website (though all in German, unfortunately Happy information hunting!

[workday_dreamer]

That's perfect! With a name, I can at least start looking in the right direction. Thanks again!