belated WOTY

[Dennis R. Preston]

Words from internet worming their way into the language scary? Wouldn't it
be scary if they didn't?
Why are you such a scairdy-cat?
dInIs

>Dennis: I guess what is scary is that, before long Internet shorthand (which
>is where I first came into contact with "my bad," being a long way from
>either playground basketball sites or the East Coast) will "worm" its way
>into the language as real words -- e.g., "lol," "imho" (pronounced "im-ho"
>presumably), or even "woty" (pronounced "woe-tee"?).
>
>Jerry Miller
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Dennis R. Preston [SMTP:preston at PILOT.MSU.EDU]
>> Sent: Monday, January 10, 2000 3:30 PM
>> To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject:      Re: belated WOTY
>>
>> "My bad" is way too old (and not exclusively so important this year) to be
>> WOTY this year (at least among us old-jocks).
>> But why is such usage "scary"? What's gonna happen?
>>
>> dInIs
>>
>>
>> >I'm sure I am very late in chiming in on the Word of the Year (and I am
>> >probably repeating what someone else suggested but I missed), but, in a
>> >mental flash of lightning, it dawned on me what the WOTY had to be. That
>> >would be "bad" used as a noun, as in (cybertalk) "my bad."
>> >This all came to me when I heard a sports announcer for one of the bowl
>> >games on TV use it to explain why a player tapped his own chest after a
>> play
>> >was botched. It gets very scary when Internet shorthand edges toward
>> >standard usage.
>> >
>> >Jerry Miller
>> >Pulliam School of Journalism
>> >Franklin College
>> >millerj at franklincoll.edu
>>
>>
>> Dennis R. Preston
>> Department of Linguistics and Languages
>> Michigan State University
>> East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
>> preston at pilot.msu.edu
>> Office: (517)353-0740
>> Fax: (517)432-2736


Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736