As I was browsing the world of LJ for the purposes of this research article I came across a journal that I read nonchalantly and somewhat cynically until I came across this entry: Òi love bread. good, fresh, bread.Ó I dropped the telephone no less than four times in my panicked attempt to mash the keypad and call someone, anyone, and tell them about this É this É I just donÕt know.
After recovering from a six-week coma, I delved into another LiveJournal, the author of which seemed to communicate mainly in bursts of ÒOMGÓ and ÒLOL.Ó Now, there are two things in life of which I am certain: The sun rises in the east and sets in the west; and people who use online-speak are assholes. And IÕm not even so sure about that sun thing.
In the end, my very scientific sampling of LiveJournal revealed the following: people like to write about what they had for breakfast, how hard their schoolwork is, and how they canÕt get a date and will most likely die alone. Stunning reads, all of them, but for superior insight and poignancy IÕd still have to go with the Yellow Pages.
[“ÔElljayÕ off My Blog” by Matt Loker, The Daily Californian, October 22 2004]
