Livejournal's verbal tick

[ivyblossom]

For a time, a good friend of mine (ahem, it might be isilya, but I will not use her name in order to protect her anonymity) picked up a verbal tick from someone she knows that had her adding a question mark to every sentence she uttered.

me: How are you today?
friend: Fine? I think?
me: Oh yeah? Rough day?
friend: I can't find my new wireless mouse?

After a time she realized what she was doing and stopped. It was sort of cute.

But it appears that livejournal has the same verbal tick:



Your login cookie seems to have, like, disappeared or something? Could that be? Maybe it was just a server burp? I mean, who knows? Don't blame me, I'm not sure, but some of the folks here have noticed some odd things going on? So just sit tight?

Comments

[twistedm.livejournal.com]

i think it'll all get fixed soon?

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

We can only hope?

[jaig.livejournal.com]

Oh? I can't believe it?

Maybe it will sort itself out?

[anansay.livejournal.com]

Do you think they're aware of it?

[incapricious.livejournal.com]

(I was browsing Friends of Friends... hi.)

Ha. That's funny! And that's totally programmer-speak for "I have no idea how this error could happen, and as far as I know it never will, and if it does happen I have no idea what to do or what that means." I do that sometimes (ok, more than sometimes). E.g.: "Database does not exist?" really means "How the hell could the database not exist???"

I had a college roommate who had that verbal tick. I picked it up for a while too. It's sort of insidious?

[so-lily-briscoe.livejournal.com]

Spoken language is deteriorating by the minute and creeping into programming as is entirely inevitable?

That's a standard inflection at Wesleyan. In order not to appear to sure of themselves, and to leave themselves a way out of their own statements, my classmates would say things like, "Well, I'm not sure, but - you know, this is just an idea - I think what Foucault is saying is that like we're all repressed? And like we can't escape from it?" If you're going to say something stupid, you know, you need a way out. Interrogative inflection / question marks are the new escapism. One of the many things I don't miss about being in school. Random people on the street in New York prefer exclamation points to question marks. ("People are so judgmental! Read the Bible! Stop being so judgmental! Read the Bible!")

I'm sure, however, that this was not the case with your friend. I'm sure she was quite certain of her uncertainty regarding the whereabouts of her wireless mouse.

[so-lily-briscoe.livejournal.com]

aaaaaaaaagh "in order not to appear TOO sure of themselves." yipes.

[mereol.livejournal.com]

Heh. Mine is ! I do it all the time! I'm perpetually surprised! It's like an eyebrowing waxing gone wrong!

[folk.livejournal.com]

Heh. That irritates me in text -- second only to the "Why not." As in, "Why not try our foamy cappucino." THAT WAS A QUESTION YOU CRETINOUS CRETIN OF CRETINDOM. *cough* Okay, I'm done now.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

We seem to have forgotten the purpose of punctuation. It's like we just throw all of the available options into a hat and pick one. And when I say "we", I mean "them", of course.

[bluwhisper.livejournal.com]

It annoys me that its mostly women who do this? They undercut themselves when they do so?

[nightbluesprite.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

[nightbluesprite.livejournal.com]

(Er, I wasn't done. I shall use a new icon and look like a different person. You will never catch on, muahaha.)

On a sort of related note, restaurants with punctuation amuse me terribly. Like Pasta? Everytime my friends and I talk about that place, we have to add the verbal intonation and make it sound like English is tonal or something. Or maybe just like we're very unsure about the restaurant.