Cyber Speak Diary of a SAHM Style

I have come along way this year, technologically speaking. For someone who had a complete and intense hatred for Face Book, to being one of the only people I know IRL on twitter, is a huge leap.
But there are some things still confuse me.

It’s not so much the how things work that I don’t understand. Playing around with stuff, and googling, and asking people solves those questions; it’s more the things I’m kind of too embarrassed to ask. Like what do certain abbreviations mean? Or what on earth are you talking about? (It’s not just me right? Some FB and twitter statements just make no sense. And some blogs, you feel like you have come in half way through the chapter? Please tell me if I do that!)

Now when I initially joined up to FaceBook, one of the obvious perks was to be able to keep in touch with family down south. I’ve got one sister in Melbourne, and another, and the MIL in Port Lincoln, not to mention their offspring (one of whom is somewhere in NSW we think.)
I soon discovered that keeping in touch with my nephews was a lost cause. I just don’t speak teenage boy.
Seriously. Does this conversation make sense to anyone?

It’s not just that I’m apparently getting old, and don’t get the lingo of ‘young people these days.’ It’s that I’m now so old, I don’t get it the language of people my own age!
I confess, there are many times when I have no idea what people are talking about, and it’s not because they’re going to a minya rave.

Yes, I have googled acronyms. (Are they technically acronyms I’d they don’t spell a word?) I’ve also asked people on occasion, in a show of complete humility, what they mean, only to be told by several tweeps what it means. Seriously, I am the most technologically inept twitter geek in the world.

Gradually as I stumble my way through cyber space, I am learning the codes and their meanings, but that brings me to my next problem. Sometimes they just don’t make sense!
Obviously from an alphabetical point of view, the reasoning is sound, but seriously, how many times do you actually Laugh out Loud, when you type LOL?

And although I have been in major hysterics over some Twitter conversations, I have never actually Rolled on The Floor Laughing.
It seems that in an age of political correctness, even acronyms come with social conventions. From what I can gather, LOL could mean any of the following.

What you said is quite humorous and I have let out a mild chuckle, or

I have made a joke but I don’t know if you will understand it so I’m putting lol and a winky smiley face so that you know I’m not actually paying you out, or

I was trying to write lollies, but I have laughed out loud so many times, that’s just what my autocorrect assumes I’m saying, or

I’m addicted to the letters l and o, and it is physically impossible for me to write status update/tweet or blog without including them several times, or

I’m actually laughing out loud.

Considering that most statements that inspire lol aren’t really that funny, I’m gonna say the majority of the time the first explanation fits.
But then because we are all lol-ing anything and everything, when something is really funny, we have to up the ante. That’s where ROTFL comes in, or perhaps PMSL.

Now the latter is completely understandable if you have ever had children and your pelvic floor muscles just aren’t what they should be, but the former is surely an exaggeration.
Again, from what I have seen, it usually means

This was so funny I actually laughed, or

I can see that you were trying to be funny so this is a ‘sympathy roll,’ or

I’ve said lol so many times I am starting to wear out the keyboard on my iPhone, or

I’m cackling myself so hard my husband is giving me strange looks and has gone out to the shed.

Now some letter combos are not only easily understandable, but perfectly suited to the emotion they are trying to convey. Nothing says What the f**k, quite like WTF, and my mum will often text PTL (Praise the Lord), at a justifiable moment. But most of them…well I think they’re kind of off base at best, and hugely exaggerated at worst.

So in the spirit of complete cyber honesty, and to avoid as much exaggeration as possible, I’m making my own!
Feel free to add any of yours in the comment section.

KF – Kinda Funny

MC- Mild Chuckle

CG- Cheeky Grin

MMS- Made me Smile

BS- Being sarcastic (though I suppose that could be easily misconstrued.) Or alternately Blank Stare.

LG- Little Giggle

SWL- Snorted While Laughing (I would use this frequently)

CS- Confused Smile

SHWAP – Should Have Worn a Pad. For all those with weak pelvic floor muscles. (Alternatively you could just become a Loo Blogger.)

SL – Sympathy Laugh

UHS- Uncomfortable Half Smile. Given when you really have no idea what people are talking about, but you are too polite to say so.

IRLIWBAYAT- In Real Life I Would Be Avoiding You After This. (Please do not leave this in the comment section.)

And there could be so many more! What would you abbreviate if you could?