Hey y'all, I'm Meriwether, Altisimo's friend! I'm working on an anthropology project where I have to study slang in an online community. I'm not allowed to actually participate in the community though, so I'll just be lurking, don't mind me, carry on as normal!
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Welcome to The Cave of Dragonflies forums, where the smallest bugs live alongside the strongest dragons.
Guests are not able to post messages or even read certain areas of the forums. Now, that's boring, don't you think? Registration, on the other hand, is simple, completely free of charge, and does not require you to give out any personal information at all. As soon as you register, you can take part in some of the happy fun things at the forums such as posting messages, voting in polls, sending private messages to people and being told that this is where we drink tea and eat cod.
Of course I'm not forcing you to do anything if you don't want to, but seriously, what have you got to lose? Five seconds of your life?
Anthropologist here!
- Thread starter happyrain
- Start date
OK well the formatting is all screwed up but I'm too lazy to fix it and by the anthropological ethical guidelines I'm supposed to show y'all the results of my research. So... shazam! Here you go:
Cave of Dragonflies
o Forum for pokemon players
o Roleplaying
o Mafia games
o Discussion of game news
o Strategies
o General chatting about “real life”
• Snarky:
o “You've always come off as really snarky to me, but I've seen other posts and your heart's definitely in the right place”
o Usually responding with a witty retort, can be positive or negative
• Crash:
o “if i pretty much ever have a conversation with you, then note you have a standing invitation to crash on my couch!” (x)
o To fall asleep at/on, sometimes associated with a long night of partying/work
• Lurker:
o “There's probably a ton of other people I could mention awkwardly but I know less people now that I'm a HUGE LURKER.”
o Functional shift
o Someone who observes a forum without posting or participating (who I am as I do this project- ironically I actually introduced myself to the forum by saying I would be “lurking”)
• Fanboy (fangirl)
o MR FANCY PANTS AKA METALLICA FANBOY! (x)
o Compounded
o An enthusiast for a particular subject, most commonly bands, TV shows, or comics.
• Totes
o He is a totes cool dude who I can talk to about pretty much anything and it's really nice!
o Shortened
o Form of “totally” used in the same way as “definitely”.
1. Lowers the dignity of writing: this definition of “crash” would never be used in a formal research paper
2. Implies the user’s familiarity with who they’re speaking to or with those who use the term: “spoiler” is mostly used among young people passionate about literature, TV, or movies, and the user would only use this term with people they know would understand it.
3. Tabooed with authority figures: people wouldn’t normally say “totes” to a professor or any adult.
4. Used instead of a well-known synonym because it’s easier and less formal or because it’s more specific and doesn’t need to be elaborated upon: “snarky” could have synonyms like “witty” or “snide” but these words would seem out of place in an internet forum. (Eble 1996, 11-12)
• This slang shows the culture that many of the forum users are a part of. Terms like “spoiler” and “fanboy” are used in “nerd culture,” and show that the users share interests about Pokemon and other subjects. While someone outside of this culture might call someone notorious for talking about Metallica a “fanatic” or “nerd” derisively, someone in the nerd culture would more likely call them a “fanboy or fangirl” affectionately.
• The term “lurker” also shows that this is an Internet culture, and adds specificity to a synonym like “onlooker” by implying that the onlooker is on the Internet and adds a creepy connotation.
• Spoiler:
o (SPOILER) Noivern, Tyrantrum, and Malamar are some of them. (x)
o Functional shift
o A warning that you’re about to reveal information that may “spoil” or give away plot details to a show, book, etc, or in this case, video game; noun that refers to this information.
o Users could block spoilers with filters, black censor bars (as in this case), or “show more” links to prevent unwanted spoilers.
o Possible derivations: a movie can be spoiled and ruined by its plot being revealed prematurely like fruit can be spoiled by rotting prematurely.
o Probably developed as the internet made information more accessible and spoilers harder to avoid.
o Used fairly widely across English speakers, even some adults use the verb form referring to information.
Cave of Dragonflies
o Forum for pokemon players
o Roleplaying
o Mafia games
o Discussion of game news
o Strategies
o General chatting about “real life”
• Snarky:
o “You've always come off as really snarky to me, but I've seen other posts and your heart's definitely in the right place”
o Usually responding with a witty retort, can be positive or negative
• Crash:
o “if i pretty much ever have a conversation with you, then note you have a standing invitation to crash on my couch!” (x)
o To fall asleep at/on, sometimes associated with a long night of partying/work
• Lurker:
o “There's probably a ton of other people I could mention awkwardly but I know less people now that I'm a HUGE LURKER.”
o Functional shift
o Someone who observes a forum without posting or participating (who I am as I do this project- ironically I actually introduced myself to the forum by saying I would be “lurking”)
• Fanboy (fangirl)
o MR FANCY PANTS AKA METALLICA FANBOY! (x)
o Compounded
o An enthusiast for a particular subject, most commonly bands, TV shows, or comics.
• Totes
o He is a totes cool dude who I can talk to about pretty much anything and it's really nice!
o Shortened
o Form of “totally” used in the same way as “definitely”.
1. Lowers the dignity of writing: this definition of “crash” would never be used in a formal research paper
2. Implies the user’s familiarity with who they’re speaking to or with those who use the term: “spoiler” is mostly used among young people passionate about literature, TV, or movies, and the user would only use this term with people they know would understand it.
3. Tabooed with authority figures: people wouldn’t normally say “totes” to a professor or any adult.
4. Used instead of a well-known synonym because it’s easier and less formal or because it’s more specific and doesn’t need to be elaborated upon: “snarky” could have synonyms like “witty” or “snide” but these words would seem out of place in an internet forum. (Eble 1996, 11-12)
• This slang shows the culture that many of the forum users are a part of. Terms like “spoiler” and “fanboy” are used in “nerd culture,” and show that the users share interests about Pokemon and other subjects. While someone outside of this culture might call someone notorious for talking about Metallica a “fanatic” or “nerd” derisively, someone in the nerd culture would more likely call them a “fanboy or fangirl” affectionately.
• The term “lurker” also shows that this is an Internet culture, and adds specificity to a synonym like “onlooker” by implying that the onlooker is on the Internet and adds a creepy connotation.
• Spoiler:
o (SPOILER) Noivern, Tyrantrum, and Malamar are some of them. (x)
o Functional shift
o A warning that you’re about to reveal information that may “spoil” or give away plot details to a show, book, etc, or in this case, video game; noun that refers to this information.
o Users could block spoilers with filters, black censor bars (as in this case), or “show more” links to prevent unwanted spoilers.
o Possible derivations: a movie can be spoiled and ruined by its plot being revealed prematurely like fruit can be spoiled by rotting prematurely.
o Probably developed as the internet made information more accessible and spoilers harder to avoid.
o Used fairly widely across English speakers, even some adults use the verb form referring to information.
Vipera Magnifica
Aquatic Artiste
- Pronoun
- he/him
Well have I gone bezoomy or is this devotchka a droog of me own? Perhaps it's a choodessny coinkydink that you'd itty over to this horrorshow forum for a malenky taste of the lingo. Now I don't mean to chumble all kinds of chepooka, but this starry ol' forum is like a Bogly biblio of knowledge. And slang is the kleb and maslo of it, so if you viddy how me and my droogs govoreet, you'll have a real horrorshow report!
Nikora Kurosaka
Keep a mild groove on!!
- Pronoun
- he
