language { Languacide

...or 'Those words had letters back home!'

After reading this superb post on 20 Sided while looking for the next installment of 'DM of the Rings' I had to laugh. And laugh hard.

I play MMOs, so I am subjected to this almost daily. People who, while not necessarily illiterate, are too lazy 2 typ al teh lettrz. But this phenomena is not limited to the written word, no, it occurs in everyday speech, usually among members of the younger type. For evidence I offer up an older post regarding a conversation I heard in a public square.

I must be getting older and more curmudgeonly, because I find myself relying more and more on sites like http://www.urbandictionary.com just to figure out what the hell people are saying. Thankfully it also has MMO-enese, so I can decipher stuff like:

Hey n00bz! L2P bitches. We need some AOE skillz dropped on the mobs SE of TM near DG and west of AH. We also need some DOTS dropped for max DPS kk? If someone doesn't get this shit going right now its -50 DKPs to all you bitches!

And thats an example (fictional) of stuff /older/ gamers (read 20+, I'm ancient at 31, Avindair is venerable at 40). The under 18 (mentally as well as physically) just say stuff like this:

GAY! l2p n00b kthxbai

So everyone, please, chill. Slow down. Think about what you are saying before saying it. Those words you save may be your own. 'l337 sp333k' isn't cool, or cool sounding or cool to read. You're just making yourself sound like a dumbass. Or for those who might not understand...

L2S n00bz!

(L2S = Learn to Spell)