I'd like to talk today about a serious issue affecting our society. One way or another, we have all been impacted by this ongoing tragedy.
Yes, I think we can all sympathize with the following unfortunate circumstance. I'll include an example here.
[Texting/chat conversation begins]
You: Hey, what's up?
Buddy: Not much lol, how r u?
You: Oh, there's not much going on except *insert witty and humorous remark here*
Buddy: lol
You: So...did you do the trig homework?
Buddy: No. did u
You: No, after spending upwards of 2 1/2 hours struggling with the square root of pi i finally gave up and went to eat the pumpkin kind
Buddy: lol
You: ...did you have a good summer?
Buddy: yep lol
You: what did you do?
Buddy: not much lol
Now, we've all come across this at one point or another. And it is this problem that I would like to address today. I would like to reach out sincerely, from the bottom of my heart to those among us who have the problem of excessive LOL-ing, and just say this:
You make me want to cry.
LOL is a conversation stopper. There is no way to get around that. Not that a stray LOL can poison the conversation on it's own. Disaster only strikes when you say nothing else to continue the conversation and temper the insincerity of the LOL. To say lol and nothing more of any significance is to rob a conversation of inertia and bring it to a perilous, squealing halt. It is to force the other person to attempt to both provide power and direction to the conversation, and if you're as short as I am you can barely reach the steering wheel, let alone the gas pedal.
To inflict this herculean task on any friend, let alone the most beloved of friends, is a terrible thing to do. Here's a little peek into the mind of the tormented friend:
"He's...not really saying anything...
He's...still not saying anything....
You know, I don't believe she's actually laughing out loud.
Either she doesn't reeeaaallllyyy want to talk to me or she's just too lazy to respond properly...which is odd since she initiated this conversation...
This is awkward.
Don't my friends love me?
I can't squander an entire day's quota of witty remarks on this one undeserving individual! It's a waste of valuable resources!!
...I'm going to go do more important things, like play spider solitaire."
Now I'm pleased to report that this unfortunate scenario has not in fact inflicted itself upon me as of late, nor, happily, do I have any specific names in mind. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this post. I don't want to alienate any friends. I also believe that this infirmity visits itself upon us all from time to time. Sometimes we all have long days, and no strength left to put any effort into conversation. We all have to overcome that. And I truly believe that there is hope for habitually excessive LOL-ers. But it's going to take a lot of support. It's going to take friends who care, friends who aren't afraid to stand up and say No.
I believe that as a society, we can overcome this.
Thank you.
Comment or like if you can relate. But if you respond with "lol" then I'm going to lock myself in my bedroom for the rest of the week with an extra-large bag of candy corn, shut the curtains, read sad stories, and play depressing music.
Yes, I think we can all sympathize with the following unfortunate circumstance. I'll include an example here.
[Texting/chat conversation begins]
You: Hey, what's up?
Buddy: Not much lol, how r u?
You: Oh, there's not much going on except *insert witty and humorous remark here*
Buddy: lol
You: So...did you do the trig homework?
Buddy: No. did u
You: No, after spending upwards of 2 1/2 hours struggling with the square root of pi i finally gave up and went to eat the pumpkin kind
Buddy: lol
You: ...did you have a good summer?
Buddy: yep lol
You: what did you do?
Buddy: not much lol
Now, we've all come across this at one point or another. And it is this problem that I would like to address today. I would like to reach out sincerely, from the bottom of my heart to those among us who have the problem of excessive LOL-ing, and just say this:
You make me want to cry.
LOL is a conversation stopper. There is no way to get around that. Not that a stray LOL can poison the conversation on it's own. Disaster only strikes when you say nothing else to continue the conversation and temper the insincerity of the LOL. To say lol and nothing more of any significance is to rob a conversation of inertia and bring it to a perilous, squealing halt. It is to force the other person to attempt to both provide power and direction to the conversation, and if you're as short as I am you can barely reach the steering wheel, let alone the gas pedal.
To inflict this herculean task on any friend, let alone the most beloved of friends, is a terrible thing to do. Here's a little peek into the mind of the tormented friend:
"He's...not really saying anything...
He's...still not saying anything....
You know, I don't believe she's actually laughing out loud.
Either she doesn't reeeaaallllyyy want to talk to me or she's just too lazy to respond properly...which is odd since she initiated this conversation...
This is awkward.
Don't my friends love me?
I can't squander an entire day's quota of witty remarks on this one undeserving individual! It's a waste of valuable resources!!
...I'm going to go do more important things, like play spider solitaire."
Now I'm pleased to report that this unfortunate scenario has not in fact inflicted itself upon me as of late, nor, happily, do I have any specific names in mind. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this post. I don't want to alienate any friends. I also believe that this infirmity visits itself upon us all from time to time. Sometimes we all have long days, and no strength left to put any effort into conversation. We all have to overcome that. And I truly believe that there is hope for habitually excessive LOL-ers. But it's going to take a lot of support. It's going to take friends who care, friends who aren't afraid to stand up and say No.
I believe that as a society, we can overcome this.
Thank you.
Comment or like if you can relate. But if you respond with "lol" then I'm going to lock myself in my bedroom for the rest of the week with an extra-large bag of candy corn, shut the curtains, read sad stories, and play depressing music.
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