OMGWTFBBQ!!!11 internets OH NOES

[trinityofone]

I just had to explain to my boss what "*g*" means. I forwarded something to him with a note that said "And I'm coming right in to talk to you about this. *g*" because our offices are right next door and it seemed kind of silly. That was two hours ago. He just called me in to ask, "What does star gee star mean?" And then I had to explain.

What really freaks me out is: he's not that much older than I am. He lives, you know, in the world. Why does he not know this? Is it generally not known? I mean, my dad knows what "*g*" means. Although possibly because I told him. So...does BossMan live in a bubble, or am I completely divorced from reality or like a teeny-bopper net-speaker omg lolz?

Comments

[lalejandra.livejournal.com]

My *grandpa* knows what it means (and I didn't tell him), so I think your boss just lives in a bubble!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

*is relieved*

Though... *looks worriedly at icon*

Scarlett Johansson's bubble?

[spazatron.livejournal.com]

*gasp* That's not Scarlett Johnansson! That's Majandra Delfino from "Roswell"! For shame.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Ooops. I lose.

Especially because I've thought that was Scarlett Johnansson for, like, a YEAR.

[spazatron.livejournal.com]

Heh. I don't think *g* is that well-known. In fact, I rarely see anyone but you use it, so I've always thought of it as a uniquely Trin thing.

See you soon! *g* (Hee!)

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

You're kidding me, right? lalejandra's grandfather knows what it means! I certainly didn't inform lalejandra's grandfather!

We must discuss this. *g* *g* indeed!

[dizzyditz.livejournal.com]

I concur.

[saturnalia.livejournal.com]

I think *g* is more of a Livejournal thing rather than a general intarwebs thing, from what I've seen. I've had to explain to a few people before now what *g* meant, and they were all pretty internet savvy in their own ways.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if you're of my generation re the net, you tend to use :-) instead.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I use both, because in my head, they mean subtly different things.

Oh, the internet. You are a strange place. And I guess my head is, too.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm actually not sure what *g* means (I'm assuming "grin"). Even though I've been active online for years and years, my social circle doesn't use things like that.

I'm a :) generation person, too~!

[ferret-kitty.livejournal.com]

I never saw it before joining the mckay_sheppard livejournal community, actually. I figured out pretty quick what it meant, because people used "*g*" in the same places that I would use "^_^" (I was heavily influence by the Japanese, what do you want from me?).

What I've alwasy wondered it how it got started? I get how :-) is a smiley face, and the evolution from there to :) or whatever. I know (and use) the "*" to indicate "action", so I guess I can see how *grins* could get shortened to *g*, but... I still don't quite see the connection. Am I missing something, or am I just overthinking the thing?

[ladysorka]

...I've been using it since long before I had a livejournal. For about seven or eight years, actually. I picked it up back on mailing lists, I think.

[soupytwist.livejournal.com]

I think it's an internet bubble. If you use the internet for anything vaguely social - if you talk to people using it - then it'd be weird not to know it. Otherwise, it'd never come up, I suspect. Like, most of my cousins my age wouldn't know it, because they don't use the net for anything other than sports scores or the weather or to check TV listings, but my dad probably would, cause he emails lots of people and stuff.

It's totally strange to me to imagine not knowing it, though... it seems so basic, to me. Like not knowing that people wave to say goodbye, or something. o_O

[dizzyditz.livejournal.com]

I ♥ Stephen Fry.

[soupytwist.livejournal.com]

Stephen Fry hearts you too! Or, er, would, I'm sure, if he knew anything about it. Heh. Anyway, yay, cause he does rock and people recognising him always make me happy in a "aww, the world can't be all bad with people who know about Stephen Fry in it!" kind of way. :)

[dizzyditz.livejournal.com]

Man, I just finished reading Revenge, The Hippopotamus,and The Liar (in that unfortunate order), and though I ♥ed him before, now I MEGA♥ him.

[zoerayne]

Oddly, I had to explain it to the teenagers in my MMORPG. One would think that they would know, but they were only familiar with the :-) emoticon-style thingies.

[barely-bean.livejournal.com]

We use AIM at the office to speak to each other and I had one of my co-workers, a guy my own age, ask me what *nods* means. I think we forget, as people who chat regularly, that most people really don't actually understand chat language. I'm always watching myself when I'm on AIM at the office. One day I'm just going to be all OMG SO GAY in a conversation with my manager, I just know it.

[ferret-kitty.livejournal.com]

::laughs:: Oh, the habits that die hard. When/if that day comes, you have my sympathy. I just hope he/she/it understands....

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

I've only been hanging out on the internet the last year or so and all the various *'s were new to me, though I learnt them in a couple of days. Also the other day I had to explain brb to one of my friends who has been hanging out on the web far longer than me. *shrugs* :P

[sobelle.livejournal.com]

While I'm considerably older (I suspect) than most LJ denizens and I've always figured out most of the "shortcuts" and ~codes~ I've seen used...

Some have been a little more elusive than others but I think most are intuitive...

Of course that's what my (geek) sons always say to me when I'm having problems with programs and what all on my Mac... "it's intuitive, mom!"

[dancinguniverse.livejournal.com]

I know what it is, and pretty much everyone I talk to online knows what it means. That, or they just don't say anything when I use it...

[kudra2324.livejournal.com]

i mean, i had to figure it out the first time i saw it, but it wasn't that hard...

[4amcoffee.livejournal.com]

My mom (ever the librarian) looks up things she doesn't know on Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/). I think that's the only reason she knows what *g* means.

Still, I'll sometimes say somthing like "OH NOES!" in everyday conversation and get blank stares back.

[bluebrocade.livejournal.com]

I just had the same convo with a co-worker a few weeks ago. I was surprised she didn't know it and couldn't figure it out from context.

On occasion, I've find myself typing an action into an official work email -- e.g. *waves*. Thankfully, I've caught myself so far, but inevitably, one's going to slip through. It'll probably be something embarrassing like *flashes you*. ;-)

[zee.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Well, I'm 29 and had to have AFK, *g*, o.O, and a few others translated for me a few years back. I think it's ... you know, there are dialects, of a sort, depending on how you use the web, and with whom. I have to squint and sound out messages from my 18 year old cousin to interpret her rampant chatspeak.

It's really kind of cool. There's pidgin and glyphs and regional dialects. And. *muzzles inner linguist*

The end.

[ferret-kitty.livejournal.com]

Please don't muzzle your inner linguist. It's fascinating. I want to write a book about it, although I think someone will beat me to it, considering I haven't even started my Master in Linguistics, and I'm not sure I'm going to.

[saturnalia.livejournal.com]

Well, as long as someone writes a book on it, I'll be happy. It really is fascinating. :)

*very much looking forward to her Text And Hypertext module next semester*

[ferret-kitty.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, I wanted to be a linguistics major. So badly. ::is jealous:: Ah well. What are you going to learn about in that one?

[saturnalia.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not a lingustics major either; just a humble English Lit student taking a few extra modules. *grin*

As for what I'm learning in that one- well, the Uni webpage (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/elll/undergrad/modules/module/sel208) probably explains it better than I can. Basically, it covers everything from how writing was first developed back in Mesopotamia, to modern web design skills. Should be good!

(Er, sorry for spamming up your LJ, trinityofone!)

[ferret-kitty.livejournal.com]

(Er, sorry for spamming up your LJ, trinityofone!)

Ack, I didn't even think about that!! Sorry, sorry!

(Thanks for the chat, though, saturnalia.)

[sonofzeal.livejournal.com]

You're the only one I see use it...

[syrenslure.livejournal.com]

I think it's an older net thing. I use it or more often *smile* or something like that. I remember doing that a lot in chat rooms, back when I spent 20 hours a day in them... not like aol or yahoo, but when there were whole sites set up as big chat communities, before the internet went bust and no one could afford to run them anymore *g* Now people just use the smilies, or the pictoral images that have replaced them - like real smiley faces.
It probably originally comes from IRC or something like that.

[syrenslure.livejournal.com]

Also, not *g* but I used to always use *wg* or *weg* and most people don't know what that means anymore.

(wicked grin and wicked evil grin, respectively)

[adannu.livejournal.com]

It's an older net thing, I'd say. From when we spent a lot of time on BBS'es and Usenet, respectively. Or in IRC. Before IM and text messaging got to be all the rage.

I used *emote* a lot in those days -- still do.

I vote for bubble. *g*

[enname.livejournal.com]

Definitely IRC. It replicates how the command /action, or whatever, used to show up in the chatroom. Just abbreviated.

[enname.livejournal.com]

The only people I've had to explain it to have been my supervisor and my mum. My mum now uses it willy nilly. It has always made sense to people who don't know what it is, just by using simple rules of deduction.

* * being the action indicator, 'g' being the abbreviation of grin and, well. There is a reason why abbreviation develops, and that is because of high use.

[luthien.livejournal.com]

Nah, it predates livejournal, at least for me. I used to use it in chat when I first got into fandom in the late 90s, only with < >. When I got a livejournal, I had to learn to grin with asterisks. *g*

Also, I'm turning 39 for the second time next birthday, so... probably a wee bit older than the out of the loop BossMan. *g*

[pentapus.livejournal.com]

*raises hand* until about a month ago, I had no idea what *g* meant. Unlike other some internet slang it's not at all self-explanatory, or even self-cluetory, and I admit to significant time spent squinting at it, wondering if it would turn out to resemble a facial expression like :P or D:

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

Welp, I didn't know. I mean, I can assume quite well what it means, but I don't think I've often (if ever) seen it used.

[amezri.livejournal.com]

I think it has a lot to do with the company you keep. My father would know what *g* and LOL mean, but my mother would not. I had to explain "wtfbbq" to a friend because he didn't understand the BBQ... but that could be a localized fandom thing. I've also had to explain "XD" to a few friends who frequent the LJ. *shrug*

Wait. This could just mean... I am the one divorced from reality and know too much netspeak. D'oh! :x

[wychwood]

I say *g*! I think I picked it up on LJ, though, from people like andrastewhite and hobsonphile.

It's funny how localised it can be. I still remember emailing my father with something like, "And you're coming to get me at about 10am, right? 8-)" when he was picking me up from university at the end of one term. He emailed back saying "Did you want me at 8am or 10am?" and I couldn't work out what on earth he was on about until I actually went back and re-read the email carefully *g*.

[nakedwesley.livejournal.com]

I had to explain it to my boss too. He's younger than me but not internet savy. I've used it for years and can't remember where I picked it up. I like being able to choose between a smile and a grin.

Ah, fond memories of when I had to ask what LOL meant.

*rudely butting into the conversation with an imprecise history of the subject*

[art-of-cynicism.livejournal.com]

As previous posters have mentioned emoting using asterisks like so *g* comes from waaaay back when in IRC land. It also comes from text Role play gaming. Players used asterisks, a double set of colons or these <> things (less than and greater than signs?) to denote actions taking place in the RPG, rather than speech. The differences in usage were based purely on what game you played and occasionally through what medium you played it. (i.e. IRC, AOL, etc) Emoticons like the happyface :) and such developed when AOL and instant messaging gained prominence with thirteen year olds.

Then net speak developed with lol, brb, omg, rofl, g2g and so on.

The anime fans developed the other emoticon-ish type of face making with o.0 and so on. I've never personally understood it (took me years to figure out what most of them meant, I kept turning my head sideways, saying, "I just don't get it.")

Then as subcultures moved away from instant message towards mailing lists and then into LJ and Blog territory net speak has changed to what we typically use today. Like the typos "liek whoa" and "teh" and such.

Really I think what you speak just depends on where you came from and where you frequent. I've been all over the map, extensively. Except IRC (which makes my eyes hurt) and anime (which makes my brain hurt.) So I'm familiar with all the types mentioned.

Why yes, I did start in text based RPGs why do you ask. *grins*

Hope this cleared up a few things.