AFK LOL · 22 May 2021
I am not AFK at the moment. After all, how can you be Away From the Keyboard if you are typing? LOL.
I am not much of a meme guy. In fact, I often need to be reminded what a meme is. And for those of you who would like a decent definition of MEME, you can just look it up on the internet and see that it is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation. Memes are like genes. Kinda sorta. The more a meme hits home with people, the more it spreads.
It might seem like memes and AFK are quite different, but they are related. At least in my mind. Memes are often pictures with sayings on them. Or they are just sayings. People then start to refer to them and they get in the lexicon of popular culture. Everybody knows what they mean and everybody uses them. (I know. Not really everybody, but hyperbole can be a good literary device.)
Not being part of everybody, I do not really refer to memes or use memes. Ever. (See. Hyperbole again.) In fact, I so rarely use memes that I often need to have people explain a meme to me. Or even remind me what a meme is. Yes. I do have that problem with jokes too. I do not laugh with the crowd. I have this blank look on my face and I say, “I don’t get it,” when I do not understand a joke. Then, people usually laugh harder. I laugh with them because I do not mind people laughing at me. However, I do not say LOL.
Which brings me to my point. I think it funny when people say LOL in a conversation. They do not even say L O L as separate letters. They say LOL as a single word. LOL. I can hear people saying it out loud. Which I really do think is laugh out loud funny. (I wonder if youngsters even know that LOL stands for Laugh Out Loud.)
I also think it funny when people say AFK. Currently, people say the letters. A F K. Away From Keyboard. I suppose it is just a matter of time before people start saying AFK as the word, AFK. Which makes me think of a Sesame Street song sung by Big Bird. Abka deckle me nock querstew wuxsiz. Actually, I do not even know how to spell out the song title. But it is a song that has been stuck in my brain for several decades. Not that I sing it every day, but it does come to mind when I think of abbreviations or acronyms being said as words. After all, Big Bird’s word turned out to be not a word, but the whole alphabet said as a single word. Which is what LOL has become. And it is what I hope does not happen with AFK and many other keyboard shortcuts.
Of course there are some keyboard shortcuts that will never become words in and of themselves. After all, nobody wants to say MMILOMSSDSTM. Which is of course short for My Mom Is Looking Over My Shoulder So Don’t Swear Too Much. And the ever present IDNRWTTTYNOE. (I Do Not Really Want To Talk To You Now Or Ever.) Or my favorite, IRWPTRMBBINWTBASPSAS. (I Really Want People To Read My Blog But I Never Want To Be A Self-Promoting So And So.) DISTOL?
Well, if you did not figure out that I just made up the last few, you might need somebody to explain what memes are and you probably need a cheat sheet for those real keyboard shortcuts that people use to say things to the initiated. But maybe the last one I made up could be a real thing. After all, people say, “Did I say that out loud?” all the time. Or maybe that is just me. Plus DISTOL sound like it could be a real word. Ah well. You never know what will catch on until it catches on.
Well, maybe you never LOLed during this post, but for now that is it. I am about to be AFK for now.
© 2021 Michael T. Miyoshi
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