Monday, January 23, 2012

Emotinym

emoticon (emotional-connotation) + acronym (Greek akros - 'tip', Greek onoma - 'name'), ex: lol, omg, smh, etc...
early 21st century, global english

These word-things (lol, omg, smh, etc...) are used to add a specific emotion to the speaker of the text in the same way that emoticons are used. They are a text-based emoticon, taking the form of an acronym. Emotinyms function more as punctuation (emoticons) than as words (acronyms). Emotinyms are not intended to be spoken aloud, reinforcing their status as punctuation. "Smh-ing" and "lolling", however, are word-forms of emotinyms.

Post-Script:
As it is more punctuation than word, 'lol' is not meant to be spoken out loud.


Post-Post:
Run a search for the word emotinym, and to only result remotely relevant to the idea here is found here:
Let's mix acronyms and emoticons to make emotinyms.For example, LOL=?รถ? would be "laughing out loud at a moth".
25 Jan 12 - Benjamin Judge @benjamin judge

Notice, especially, the date of the posts are within 2 days of each other.
(this post originally written on 23 Jan 12)

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