Comments on: lolcat literacy

By: Katie

Katie — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:24:38 +0000

Great post, love it. I’ve been educating some lecturers at the university I work at about lolcats and lolcat speak. I accidentally wrote in lolcat in an email about meeting up for lunch: “can has own foods” or something similar. Now I just need to find more lolcat posts concerning digital literacy and information society and I’ll have them sold on the idea! ;^)

By: Miss Poppy Dixon

Miss Poppy Dixon — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:05:10 +0000

It sounds to me that there’s a little smidgeon of Kazakhstani in LOLCAT. You like?

I’d love to hear what you all think of teh LOLCAT Bible Translation Project:
http://www.lolcatbible.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

By: Sigrid

Sigrid — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:54:45 +0000

Hi Rudolf, sorry I never got round to reply to your thoughtful post. I would love to know more about how you use lolspeak for teaching physics -that really blows my mind!
Sigrid

By: Robert Mark Bram

Robert Mark Bram — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:47:51 +0000

Vry cool. The lolcat pics I meen. Dun reed wordz less theyz in lolcatz. :)

By: Rudolf

Rudolf — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:35:01 +0000

Oh Hai !

I fully agree with Sigrid! It is really fascinating to see a “new” language coming into existence and to observes how its own rules are being created by and in its usage.

“Pidgin”does not apply here. “Pidgin” or “Pigeon” finds it origin in wars in which carrier pigeons carried messages and could only carry a limited area of paper, usually sealed in a very small canister attached to a leg. Since writing space was very limited, all sorts of abbreviations were used, leading to “pigeon” speak. (Not only in English).

Furthermore, in English, orthography is, in many cases, “funny”. And so is sentence building (and grammar in general) when compared to other languages that are far more sophisticated like French, German, Russian etc.

So, Lolspeak is a very refreshing alternative that is innovating, funny, simple, logical (!) and kitteh-related. It also makes sense.

When trying to explain some Heisenberg viewpoints to some of my physics students at the university here, I have used lolspeak more than once and it works amazingly well to convey some of the more complex constructions. Of course, I also allow it in exams.

Kthxbai,

Rudolf.

By: Sigrid

Sigrid — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:45:42 +0000

I read a study about African American children’s talk in that vein - I forgt the reference.
I agree, the longer the phenomenon goes on the more certain spellings and phrases turn into new conventions, like the spelling of “kitteh,” and that process is fascinating to watch. I am all for lolcats being taught their own native dialect :-)

By: Colleen

Colleen — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:14:12 +0000

In 1979, one of our local schools was required to teach African American children using what came to be known as Ebonics. It recognized that there was an underlying grammar to how the children spoke, and that their language usage was an English dialect, not simply “bad grammar”.

What fascinates me about lolcats is that there is an underlying grammar and orthography. Maybe we can get a federal judge to rule that cats must be taught in their native dialect when they go to school.

By: axinia

axinia — Thu, 22 May 2008 10:31:12 +0000

What a brillinat post!!! enjoyed it a lot… a post of a viral naure (will sent it all over to those who understand) :)))

TANKZ!

By: Busting a myth: Lolcats and literacy « !anaj ,em s’taht

Busting a myth: Lolcats and literacy « !anaj ,em s’taht — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:09:29 +0000

[...] to, just wrote a very nice article about Lolcats and their misconception as illiterate creatures: lolcat literacy. ‘nough said: Read for [...]

By: Sigrid

Sigrid — Sat, 17 May 2008 18:47:14 +0000

thanks for your comment :-) I guess there are few people who know all about locats. I just felt like sharing a few of my favorites and take the whole lolcat thing further :-)