How'd you learn to communicate online? Back in 1996 I actually took a class called, "Anatomy of a Virtual Community." The idea was to figure out how and why online communities ticked. Of course, half the class at that time didn't have an email account, let alone a 14.4k modem, so... it sucked. However, I had a 28k modem and was on some IRC where we talked politics and music. And the folks who chatted w/me were smart cookies. Articulate, too. So there was no LOL, BRB, WTF or other abbreviated loser nonsense. But these days, even my best friend slips into LOL crap. Do people not realize how... um... effing stupid that mode of communicating makes them sound? Like, even if you make the best damn point in the history of teh internets, a single "LOL" makes others think you're a stopped clock.
But somehow, people just never get told any of this and never figure it out on their own. Like our COTD award winner. Sweet cherry pie Murliee asked y'all what your favorite Malaise Era import is. And DWMILLER answered:
THE COLT!!! MY OLDER BROTHER HAD ONE AND WE THOUGHT HE WAS COOL! HIS OWN CAR, A GIRL WHO PUT OUT...HE WAS THE MAN! I'VE NEVER BEEN COOL.
You know, come to think of it, that's sort of a busted Timex answer even without the CAPS LOCK.
UPDATE: Honorable mention to WarShrike for the following:
Well, the world will come to an end for some of the guys I knew that were going to school as diesel technicians. They really weren't that driven to do anything in the first place.
They'll look at that motor when they have to service it, quietly close the hood, run their hands through some Fast Orange, clock out, drive home in their asthmatic malaise era 4-door boat they bought for $400, sit down in front of their TV, light up a cigarette, change it to the Speed channel and cry softly into their Milwaukee's Best.
That comment (and that Detroit-forged pile of Diesel awesome) is just too fab to pass on by.