Onlineisms rant

[Jon MW]

FML

You can't rant against FML, it's applicable so many times to some of us it must save thousands of man hours.

[boldie]

June.

[thetank]

Did you know that prior to the invention of the telephone, the word 'hello' did not exist.
It was invented just so that people had something to say when they picked up the reciever. There was a lexical gap, and it got filled.

It's not that there wasn't already a way they could express the sentiment. "Good day to you!" or "How do you do?" but people felt a little silly saying this because they didn't know who was on the other end.
"Who is this?" was just a little too rude sounding.

"Hello" came along, and fit nicely in the middle.





Groups of people, especially young people and siblings, were always inventing new words to express sentiment. A kind of verbal shorthand develops between people in the same environment, with similar interests and/or agendas.

This happened before the internet and mobile phones, but these new forms of communication have meant that the same groups of people (same environment with similar intersets etc) are generally much larger. Also, because the new mediums thrive on sharing of knowledge, and most importantly that it is based in a textual format that gives things a permanence, new words exist for longer when first used, and are spread faster.

Some will die out as fads, others will thrive and slowly be accepted into everday use. (as hello has outwith the context of telephone calls)

The example you cite, pwned is pretty popular and has been around for a relatively large amount of time. It's probably here to stay, although as for whether or not it trancends the internet into everday speak we will have to wait and see.

When people say pwned they aren't doing so to make a joke. They're just using something that is, for all intents and purposes, a word.
It's not a comical misspelling of owned, it is a synonym of owned, with a narrower scope in it's definition.


I can say that 'you own that ladder', and 5 years ago, I would almost definately mean that there's a climbing tool over there which belongs to you, it is a possesion of yours.

However, that is no longer the case today. It might be that this aforementioned climbing tool is not a possession of yours, but in saying 'you own that ladder' I wish to express that you have just exhibited a mastery over every one of it's rungs.

Better that I use the word pwn instead, that way there's more chance you can work out what I'm talking about. 

[bolt pp]

Did you know that prior to the invention of the telephone, the word 'hello' did not exist.

bollox

i'm not reading the rest if it revolves around that statement

[thetank]

Is it bollox?

I'm just repeating it as an oft repeated factoid. I wasn't around in pre telephone days.
Do you have linky linky that I can read about it being bollox?

Would be nice to tell someone it's bollox next time I hear it, but would probably want to collaborate such a statement with something concrete sounding.

[bolt pp]

Is it bollox?

I'm just repeating it as an oft repeated factoid. I wasn't around in pre telephone days.
Do you have linky linky that I can read about it being bollox?

Would be nice to tell someone it's bollox next time I hear it, but would probably want to collaborate such a statement with something concrete sounding.

in what year was the telephone invented?

[thetank]

I dunno off the top of my head. Would have to google it.

I know that it supposedly wisnae Ecky Bell wot done it, but that he nicked it off some Italian chap.

[gatso]

first use of hello according to OED 1834, well before the phone

1834 J. C. HART Miriam Coffin II. v. 70 There have we been hunting and helloing all over for thee, and lo-and-behold, thou art here!

[bolt pp]

I dunno off the top of my head. Would have to google it.

I know that it supposedly wisnae Ecky Bell wot done it, but that he nicked it off some Italian chap.

well i dont know either but am also minded(specifically from godfather 3) that he did indeed nick it off some Italian dude.

Not that it needs corroberating, anyone should be able to work out thats bollox but if you find out the year i reckon i can prove it's common usage before that date cos i'm just not having it!

[thetank]

Cool, I stand corrected then Mr. gatso.
I suppose there's plenty hullos and hallos from earlier still.

The phone did good things for hello, would that be fair to say?

[bolt pp]

first use of hello according to OED 1834, well before the phone

1834 J. C. HART Miriam Coffin II. v. 70 There have we been hunting and helloing all over for thee, and lo-and-behold, thou art here!

exactly, see what i'm saying.

you didnt need to look that up though to know in your own heart that there was just no fucking way the term hello didnt pre-date the telephone.

I'm a pretty tolerent guy but that's pure sloppy work tank, i dont know where you read it but didnt it strike you as a bit odd?

if someone came up to me in the pub and called my bird a slag, slated my familly, called me a mug and poured a drink over my head i'd like to think i could resolve the situation peacefully but if someone came up to me in the pub, right up to my face and said: "did you know the word hello didnt exist prior to the invention of the telephone" then i'd smash his fucking head in.

[gatso]

I suppose there's plenty hullos and hallos from earlier still.

yeah, I actually realised I omitted an important word from my post

should've said the first documented use of hello, I'm sure it was used long before then

[tikay]

Here is the basis of  Mr Tank's story, which may, or may not, be true.......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello

So he might be wrong - but not very.......

Concrete-sounding enough to me.

The T-Shirt is cancelled.

[thetank]

first use of hello according to OED 1834, well before the phone

1834 J. C. HART Miriam Coffin II. v. 70 There have we been hunting and helloing all over for thee, and lo-and-behold, thou art here!

exactly, see what i'm saying.

you didnt need to look that up though to know in your own heart that there was just no fucking way the term hello didnt pre-date the telephone.

I'm a pretty tolerent guy but that's pure sloppy work tank, i dont know where you read it but didnt it strike you as a bit odd?

if someone came up to me in the pub and called my bird a slag, slated my familly, called me a mug and poured a drink over my head i'd like to think i could resolve the situation peacefully but if someone came up to me in the pub, right up to my face and said: "did you know the word hello didnt exist prior to the invention of the telephone" then i'd smash his fucking head in.

That's why this part-time poor excuse for an etymologist stays the fuck out of your local.

Learnt that the hard way telling random people in the Dagenham Arms that the punctuation mark ellipses, were named after eclipses.
Ellipses have three dots in a row (...) whereas eclipses have three orbs (the sun, the moon and the earth) all aligned.

fml... never again
They put three dots of their own on my forehead with some skanky darts and said "what the fuck are you gonna call them you posh twat"
Had to get a tetanus shot. I'm sticking to the intenetz from now on.

[tikay]

Many stories date the first use of hello (with that spelling) to around the time of the invention of the telephone in 1876. It was, however, used in print in Roughing It by Mark Twain in 1872 (written between 1870 and 1871),[2] so its first use must have predated the telephone:

So Tank might be right - especially if the bloke who invented the first telephone kept it secret for a few years - until someone else invented another one, enabling a 'phone call to take place. He might have invented the telephone before electricity was invented, so had to wait until it was, so it would work.

Tank gets the points.