演讲文本

And so, for example, there is in texting a convention, which is LOL.
比如说，在短信里有这样一个习惯用语，就是LOL。
Now LOL, we generally think of as meaning "laughing out loud."
我们通常认为LOL的意思是“捧腹大笑”。
And of course, theoretically, it does,
当然，从理论上看，它确实是这个意思，
and if you look at older texts, then people used it to actually indicate laughing out loud.
如果我们看看过去的一些短信，人们确实用它来表示笑的很开心。
But if you text now, or if you are someone who is aware of the substrate of texting the way it's become,
但是对于现在的短信，或者你很注意短信从根本上是怎么出现的，
you'll notice that LOL does not mean laughing out loud anymore.
你就会注意到LOL不再意味着“捧腹大笑”了。
It's evolved into something that is much subtler.
它已演变成某种更微妙的东西。

This is an actual text that was done by a non-male person of about 20 years old not too long ago.
这是一段真实的短信对话，它是由一个20出头的姑娘在前不久写的。
"I love the font you're using, btw."
第一句：“顺便说一句，我喜欢你用的字体。”
Julie: "lol thanks gmail is being slow right now"
朱莉: "lol，谢谢，谷歌邮箱现在变得好慢"
Now if you think about it, that's not funny. No one's laughing.
如果大家想想看，这可不好笑。也没有人在笑。
And yet, there it is, so you assume there's been some kind of hiccup.
但是，这个字(lol)却在那里，你会认为这可能就是打错了。
Then Susan says "lol, I know,"
然后苏珊说“lol，我知道，”
again more guffawing than we're used to when you're talking about these inconveniences.
再一次，真让人“捧腹大笑”。这可不是我们一般遇上这样麻烦事的态度。
So Julie says, "I just sent you an email."
朱莉接着说，“我刚给你发了封邮件。”
Susan: "lol, I see it." Very funny people, if that's what LOL means.
苏珊：“lol，我收到了。”非常有趣的两个人，如果这是LOL的真实意思的话。
This Julie says, "So what's up?"
朱莉说，“最近怎么样？”
Susan: "lol, I have to write a 10 page paper."
苏珊：“lol,我得写一篇10页的作文。”
She's not amused. Let's think about it.
这么看的话，她可不开心。
LOL is being used in a very particular way.
LOL是以一种特别的方式被使用的。
It's a marker of empathy. It's a marker of accommodation.
它代表着感同身受，代表着某种无奈妥协。
We linguists call things like that pragmatic particles.
我们语言学家称之为“口头禅”。

视频及简介

演讲简介：

短信的出现意味着良好书写技能的丧失吗？约翰·麦克沃特提出短信在语言学上和文化上的影响都比表面看上去的更大，而且可喜的是这些都是好消息。