The Online-ification of Language

Social media and the online sphere has been changing language use for quite a while now. We've gotten completely new words like selfie and unlike. There's a seemingly never ending supply of acronyms that I've lost track of, and there's more apps then I think I'll ever know the name of - really, half of them just seem made up at this point.

The internet hasn't just been creating new words, it's been drastically changing the ones we already having. Words such as Tweet or tag have changed, sure, but there are other words that just make me groan.

Let's look at one you may have seen recently: larper.

LARP or LARPing was originally an acronym for Live Action Role Playing. Imagine groups of people pretending to be fantasy characters or groups of men that reinact the civil war. That was larping.

Now, the word has changed a little bit. In modern day, particularly on TikTok, larp or larping has taken the place of poser, or someone that pretends to be someone they're not. After learning that, I understood how the new usuage still makes sense. It's the overuse of the word that really annoys me though.

Having younger Gen Alpha siblings means I'm constantly surrounded by this language. It also meant that if anyone in the house is going to be called a "larper" it's going to be me. Firstly, can we all admit it's a bit cringe to say that aloud? Sure, to be cringe is to be free, but calling someone a "larper" at every turn is just annoying. Literally, I've been called a "larper" by my siblings for going to see the new Spider-Man. Meanwhile I've been watching Spider-Man content since before either of them were even born!

It's one thing to hear these sorts of things from family members, it's another to be constantly berrated online. I've seen plenty of people, primarily women and young girls, relentlessly called "larpers" and other derogatory names for enjoying things like soccer, superheroes, Formula 1, and certain TV shows. Rather than engage in a genuine conversation, those online are quick to "call someone out" for having a hobby.

Genuinly, who cares though?

Who cares if someone just got into soccer because of the World Cup? Who cares if someone got interested in a superhero because of a new movie? News flash, these aren't very niche topics!

What the evolution of language online has truly shown is that the Internet loves to bully someone.

Maybe that person actually did something wrong, but most of the time it's just a person that doesn't fit into all of society's perfect little boxes. They'll get told the most heinous things imaginable, all hidden behind the guise of "sarcasm" or "a joke". Let me tell you, there's nothing funny in a comment telling someone to "unalive themselves".

The thing is, most people don't clock cyberbullying as such anymore. It's easy to brush off many of the comments you'll see on TikTok because they aren't very overt, that or there's just so much slang thrown in there that I couldn't tell you what the point of the comment even is.

This isn't new though. We've seen cyberbullying online for a long time now, but the new normalization of it is going to destroy the online sphere as we know it.

Language has always had meaning. We can't just brush off words because they have a "new" meaning, we can't censor ourselves into oblivion, and we can't pretend that words don't have impact. Language is one of the greatest tools we have, and therefore it's important we understand not just how to use it, but how to use it correctly.

Because if I have to see one more "larp", "bean soup", or "unalive" comment, I might just lose my mind.