Wednesday, February 18, 2009

What the Heck is a Lolcat and Who Came Up with the Atrocious Dialect?

I saw what is called a "lolcat" for the first time the other day (I guess I really am behind the times). While I have always liked cats and some of the images and sayings are cute, overall I was appalled to find out these lolcats have become such a phenomenon. There is no excuse for using intentionally poor grammar and spelling. At any rate, I decided to learn a bit more about this phenomenon.
According to Wikipedia, a lolcat is "an image combining a photograph, most frequently of a cat, with a humorous and idiosyncratic caption in (often) broken English—a dialect which is known as “lolspeak,” ”kitteh,” or “kitty pidgin” and which parodies the poor grammar typically attributed to Internet slang. The name "lolcat" is acompound word of the words "LOL" and "cat".
After reading this I was even more appalled to learn that this supposed dialect has been given not only one name, but three different names. I guess nothing should surprise me in this day and age of chatlish.

6 comments:

Rimpy Rimpington said...

Sorry you had to find out about this deplorable trend this way. I blogged about it myself the other day (http://therantsinmypants.blogspot.com/2009_02_05_archive.html#4986384874350586401).

THE GRAMMARPHILE said...

I have to admit that I adore LOLcats. I know, I know. I totally shouldn't love 'em. But I can't help it. :)

Anonymous said...

LOLcats crack me up. I've often wondered how LOLspeak and other slangalects will influence the evolution of English.

Ever heard of Leet Speak? Pretty scary. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet

Anonymous said...

I really LOVE lol cats and so do a lot of people I understand the grammar and spelling is bad but the quotes are supposed to be from the cats points of view. If cats could spell properly and use good grammar I think we would all be in trouble. LMAO

Anonymous said...

How can a self-proclaimed lover of language dislike a dialect so much? Isn't that the first rule of linguistics? "No language is superior to any other?" Using poor grammar on PURPOSE is an excellent way to show that one understands proper grammar.

Shame on you.

Laura Payne said...

Anonymous (October 27, 2011) - I can't say that I agree with your comment "using poor grammar on PURPOSE is an excellent way to show that one understands proper grammar" but I do agree that "no language is superior to any other". What I dislike is the intentional use of poor spelling and grammar, and I do not consider the LOLcat "dialect" a dialect (that was from the Wikipedia excerpt).

At any rate, to each his own. Thank you for reading and commenting.

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