Technoholic,Chocoholic,Workaholic?

[nosmohtac]

I've always found the english language interesting. I am far from an expert at it, but am sometimes amazed at words that make their way in to dictionaries.

For example, how in the heck do we come up with words like Technoholic,Chocoholic,Workaholic? There are many other examples that would fit in to this discussion, but I want do discuss these words that have derived from the term "alcoholic". If you take the root of the word, you end up with "alcohol". To me, this makes "ic" the suffix. I know it doesn't sound proper and maybe it doesn't make much sense, but I think these terms should follow the same grammar rules. A person who is a techno-geek and is constantly upgrading his/her gadgets should be a "techic, technoic, or technologyic". A person who can't say no to chocolate, should be a "chocic, chocolic, or chocolatic" etc.

Just an observation. Anyone else have any grammar, or language pet peeves like this? I saw another post here about someone who dislikes the misuse of its/it's, I usually try not to correct people's grammar, or choice of words, but sometimes I can't let it go. Another one that really bothers me is people that say "fustrated when they mean frustrated", or I know someone who calls Pneumonia, ammonia. Neither of these examples cause me to misunderstand what is being communicated, but they touch a nerve with me that makes it hard not to say something.

[Jon Westfall]

INTERNET SLANG MUST DIE.

Ok, that's my rant. As I've translated for some hapless soul that may run accross this: PAOPL3 ON AOL AND OTHER UNDARAEG TYPAS RILLY NED 2 LAARN HOW 2 USE SPELNG GRMM3R AND TEH 3NGLISH LANGUAEG 2 THEYRE ADVANTAEG NOT DISADVANTAEG!!!!! OMG WTF LOL (courtsey of this site and others like it (http://ssshotaru.homestead.com/files/aolertranslator.html)).

Aside from internet slang running wild, the whole its/it's thing bugs me, as does your/you're. I feel really sorry for people who do not speak english as a primary language and have to deal with our oddities on top of learning an already odd language.

Anyone else want to go into some chat rooms with me later and correct people's spelling? It's really fun to find a room and insult poor spelling and poor sexual overatures until everyone vacates the room.

[Falstaff]

Internet chat acronyms such as gtg, wtf, and brb serve a purpose. When you areusing AIM, YIM, or another chat client, the short abbreviations for common phrases makes chatsmore like conversation and cuts down on typing time. However, if you start to use these outside of chatting, that is bad. Even in online forums (such as this one) that is bad, except for the occasional lol or wtf for humor or emphasis. I read a NY Times article a while back about a High School English teacher who was complaining about students using chat acronyms in papers. That is truly pathetic. I know plenty of non-native English speakers who can speak and write better than most other people, yet there are native speakers who can't even learn basic grammar rules, it is kind of frustrating.

[Jon Westfall]

As an aside, I've noticed that the spelling of my 8th grade students this year is a whole lot worse than my fifth graders from 5 years ago.

And if people didn't use lol or wtf as much in chat conversations, they could achieve the same thing I did: an 80 WPM type speed due to emails and IMs. Oh wait... that would be an educational and self-improvement purpose of the internet.. today's kiddies want none of that!

[Hyperluminal]

And if people didn't use lol or wtf as much in chat conversations, they could achieve the same thing I did: an 80 WPM type speed due to emails and IMs. Oh wait... that would be an educational and self-improvement purpose of the internet.. today's kiddies want none of that!
I don't disagree with what you're saying.. in fact, I completely agree. But I do want to point out one thing. I use proper grammer and spelling, etc., when IMing too.. and while I've never measured, I'd say my typing probably hovers around 80 WMP (as an aside, if anyone has a tool to measure typing speed, I'd be interested to play around with it). I almost never abbreviate words. But I still do use certain abbreviations often, especially LOL. The reason is that I simply can't find another good way to express laughter. If a friend tells a joke, a quick LOL will show that I found it funny, and understood what they were trying to convey. I guess I could say <chuckle> or something like that, but there's no point.
And BRB can be useful too, if I have to go quickly and just don't have the time to say "I've got to go."

This may be obvious, but I'm just pointing it out to have it said, because abbreviations do serve a useful purpose when IMing. That said, I do agree that it's better to become a better typist than to abbreviate everything, like many people do...

[Jon Westfall]

I guess I'm just ranting. They do have good uses, when used properly. I'm just sick of it in so many ways.

http://www.typingtest.com is what I've used in the past to test my typing speed, its worked out pretty well.

And how do i express laughter? usually with an emoticron such as :) . My friends know that I rarely laugh at jokes, but rather smile wryly about them. So it makes sense.

Jon.

[ironguy]

I recently read an article that said we are entering the Dark Ages again brought on by technology. The Dark Ages were a period of scientific unenlightenment. People were not encouraged to learn and communication to the masses was mostly through pictures. This author suggested we are again heading that way via technology. Gone are the days when a student has to dig through several books to bring together different information to formulate an answer. Today you just type your question in Google. Much of our information has become visual. TV, internet, etc are prime examples. Interesting theory, no?

FWIW, I think we will see an acceptance of things like chat room acronyms, btw, as we progress. Progress? :?

[PetiteFlower]

Back to the original topic.....words aren't invented just based on grammar rules, they come about based on what's easy to say, easy to pronounce, catchy. What rolls off your tongue easier, chocoholic or chocolic? Workoholic or workic? Which makes more sense to your ear? I mean come on! I think you need to chill out a bit there, it's one thing to get annoyed over genuine butcherings of the language, like some of the other examples you gave, but language is a living being and it evolves on its own terms without regard to any "rules" we humans try to give it sometimes. Relax and let nature take its course :)

[nosmohtac]

The reason I started the post, was just to point out, how we sometimes derive words from other words, making a new word, that you would have no understanding of, if you had never heard the word it came from. I don't get upset about this one bit. I was merely pointing out these words that would seem strange without the word "alcoholic". I then pointed out a few examples of improper grammer or pronunciation, that do get under my skin. I don't think this makes me uptight. It's no different than someone getting annoyed by listening to someone eat their food with their mouth open, picking their nose right in front of you, drinking milk from the carton (when others share this carton), cracking knuckles, bouncing your knees under a table, or any of the millions of things that annoy some people. Some people go nuts watching and listening to someone else eat with their mouth open, while it doesn't bother others, and some people can't stand it when someone else talks about the little things that bother them. :wink: I guess if having a few things I find annoying, and discussing them makes me uptight, well...........

[nosmohtac]

Back to the original topic.....words aren't invented just based on grammar rules, they come about based on what's easy to say, easy to pronounce, catchy. What rolls off your tongue easier, chocoholic or chocolic? Workoholic or workic? Which makes more sense to your ear? I mean come on! I think you need to chill out a bit there, it's one thing to get annoyed over genuine butcherings of the language, like some of the other examples you gave, but language is a living being and it evolves on its own terms without regard to any "rules" we humans try to give it sometimes. Relax and let nature take its course :)

I reread my original post, and it really sounds like this is something that drive me crazy. The first paragraph was simply to start an off-topic discussion on an old observation that I made. The further statements are rantings of things that do get under my skin somewhat, but I never let any of them ruin my mood. It is silly to dwell on anything of such little significance. I apologize for sounding so uptight. :oops:

My original post just goes to show my inadaquate skills at conveying a message in writing. :)

[PetiteFlower]

Hey it's ok severely bad grammar gets to me too! When I see it here I try to assume it's a non-native speaker so I don't judge them so harshly. The only times I'll actually say something to the poster is if A) it's SO bad I can't understand what they're trying to say, B) they type in all caps or C) they dare to use leet speak at me(I think there's a special place reserved in netiquette hell for the users of such).

I do use proper grammer and spelling as much as I can, things like u instead of you and 4 instead of for bug me, I do use the expressions like lol etc but those are acronyms and there's nothing un-grammatical about them :) I probably type about 60wpm, and at some point I realized I'd learned to touch type(even though I usually look), which was pretty cool, I'd never been able to learn it on purpose :)