Thursday 6 November 2008

Language: Epic Fail!

When did "fail" become a noun? It was a perfectly working verb, with a perfectly working noun form: failure. But now... (Okay, to be accurate, "fail" is already a noun, but specific to the stock market, not a general phenomena to be experience by all and sundry. Especially sundry, as they're usually the ones to failure... [Ha! Let's work it both ways!])

Is this the result of the txt gnrtn? Is this Lolcat's "I can has grammar?" Is this merely a symptom on the ever increasing laziness of the people around us (damn youths, and get off my lawn!)? Or merely just another internet meme? (Most likely originating with yet another bad Japanese translation.)

When did typing three extra letters prove to be such a chore? Or is this the start of a new language rule evolution? Will we have "a see to behold"? Is there an example of "manage in action"? Are you now reading a "publish post"?

Language changes over time, and with the internet and desperate attempts to wring out any sense of bizarre humour, this is hopefully just another flash in the pan, hopefully to end in the same bin as "All Your Base Are Belong To Us".

[END]

4 comments:

Morgan Davie said...

It came out of the seething pit of smart 14-year-old boys that is 4chan, didn't it? And, I think, from the Halo/Quake network gaming scene prior to that?

I have a feeling it's going to be around a while...

Peter A said...

When did "damn" become an adjective? ;)

Jamas Enright said...

At least it isn't a noun!

Anonymous said...

adverb