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Much Ado About Publishing

When LOL Meets PPF

by Nina L. Diamond

Every generation has always contributed its own slang terms to our evolving languages, but because of e-mails and text messages, this is the first generation to do it more with acronyms, such as LOL, rather than actual words.

I don't laugh out loud at LOL.

And when I see this "Laugh Out Loud" acronym in an e-mail or text from a grown-up, I still have visions of silly pre-teens gossiping about the cute boy in math class. Or worse, about how their mothers won't let them get nose rings.

LOL is also too vague for me.

Laugh Out Loud...is that a quiet giggle, a good chuckle, or a hearty guffaw? Is it brief amusement or recurring hysteria? Is it the best we can do?

No, it isn't.

So, I'm advocating for a term we can all use in e-mails and texts to convey a higher order of LOL.

And that term is PPF.

Would you like a moment to think about it?

That's right, PPF stands for "Pee-In-Your-Pants-Funny."

And it's for when LOL just won't do. Which, for me, is all the time.

As each new generation adds their slang, the previous generations do their best to incorporate some of it -- but usually only what they can say or write with a straight face -- as they hang on to many of their favorite old expressions.

Recently, I actually told someone I was "toodling around online."

Fortunately, like me, he's a Baby Boomer, so he didn't need a translator.

Like many of my fellow Boomers, I'm still quite attached to some of the words and phrases I grew up with. I still automatically say, "Cool," although I don't think I've uttered the word "groovy" more than twice since Nixon resigned.

God says, "You're welcome."

I don't want to speak the language of the current under-30 crowd. And, quite frankly, I don't think they'd want me to. When I hear someone say, "Awesome!" -- way too often and always accompanied by an implied exclamation point, although it's almost never worthy of one -- I feel like spiders are strolling up my spine.

I can't imagine saying it with a straight face and I can't imagine it feeling or sounding authentic. It feels as alien to me as saying, "Far out, man!" would've felt to my parents back in the Sixties.

Unless, of course, my parents were Cheech and Chong.

When someone calls me "dude" -- as in "Hey, dude" -- I try not to look at him (it's never a woman) like he's just ingested an entire pharmacy. And I think, "Hey, man, gimme a break!"

Once in a while, when it's necessary for emphasis, like in that previous sentence, yes, we Boomers still say "man."

Yeah, I know: today's dude is just yesterday's man.

But, that's their dude...and my man.

So, in the spirit of this logic, LOL is now accompanied by my preferred PPF.

With this one disclaimer, of course: When you use LOL, you can take it literally and laugh out loud. But when you use PPF, you should probably do your best to stay dry.

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Nina L. Diamond is a journalist, essayist, and the author of Voices of Truth: Conversations with Scientists, Thinkers & Healers. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Omni, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and The Miami Herald.

Ms. Diamond was a writer and performer on Pandemonium, the National Public Radio (NPR) satirical humor program, for its entire run in Miami and select markets nationwide from 1984-1998. As an editor, she works frequently with other authors and journalists on both fiction and non-fiction.

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Read Nina's other Much Ado About Publishing columns from 2010:

Sunday in the Park with Scarlett, Seuss, Webster, Zhivago & Salinger

There's No Such Thing As a Quick Remote

Thanks for the Genes

From Blog to Eternity

Jessie: A Literary Tail & A Warm Nose for News

Struggles on the Shelves

Impacted Cranial Rectitis

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