LOLCATS

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
VISIBLE “HAI WORLD!”
KTHXBYE

Imagine programming like that. They call it LOLCODE. (Thanks to William for the link.)

For the longest time, I thought that all the cute cat-graphics with geek talk and atrocious (but strangely appealing) cat-English plastered on them was a phenomenon resulting mainly from computer games. However when I started finding sites like I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER? and the LolCat Builder, I began to realize that it was part of something bigger. Example images below (taken from the I can has cheezburger site above) :

There are also a good number which aren’t based on cats.

This article from the Houston Chronicle covers the phenomenon quite well, and below is an image of the original article in the actual print.

Personally, my original experience with animal images with atrocious English was furnished by one Alamo from World of Warcraft. “Alamo teechs u 2 play DURID!” is an infamous guide to playing a druid in World of Warcraft, mainly due to the language, and the accompanying images.

I wonder how annoying it is when such language is actually used in conversations. Being a rather cutesy person at times, I find it quite charming when used correctly. In World of Warcraft’s guild chat, I routinely use extremely geeky terms, and I am especially fond of ‘kthxbai’, a word or phrase which I find William equally loves. However I still get ‘huh?’ reactions from people when using things like ‘lol’ in everyday conversations.

The evolution of language is quite the interesting thing no? Too bad such materials aren’t used in English classes though. Imagine the delight students would have if ‘correct the English’ exercises had images of cute cats. :)

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