Monday, May 24, 2010

My Take on Jejemons

What exactly is a jejemon?

Urban Dictionary defines a jejemon as a person:

1) Usually seen around social networking sites such as Friendster and Multiply, jejemons are individuals with low IQs who spread around their idiocy on the web by tYpFing LyK diZS jejejeje, making all people viewing their profile raise their eyebrows out of annoyance. Normal people like you and me must take a Bachelor of Arts in Jejetyping in order to understand said individuals, as deciphering their text would cause a lot of frustration and hair pulling. CAUTION: THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE BREEDING! THEY CAN BE SEEN WRECKING GRAMMATICAL HAVOC ON FACEBOOK TOO!

2) Jejemons are not just confined to trying-hard Filipino gangsters and emos. A Jejemon can also include a variety of Latino-Hispanic fags who enjoy typing "jejejejeje" in a wider context, much to the disdain of their opponents in an internet MMORPG game such as Ragnarok and DOTA.

3) Basically anyone with a low tolerance in correct punctuation, syntax and grammar. Jejemons are usually hated or hunted down by Jejebusters or the grammar nazi to eradicate their grammatical ways.

EoW pFuOh!
I cannot understand their language, and they just plain piss me off. Why would someone on his right state of mind send me an SMS that can be simply spelled into hello, go to the extent of extending the word into a jumble more of letters?

DepEd should do something about this. This has been discussed on a lot of forums already but by the way it looks, there are more students and teens who are enticed to spell the way jejemons do. This is just not right. I can simply wonder at the jejemons' creative way of spelling stuffs, but i pity the teachers who, admittedly, can be affected by way of jejemons' world.

When i was in school, (God bless the teachers in KNCHS) we were taught of the freedom of speech, and how we can creatively write, but we were also taught to spell words the right way. There are of course, spelling notebooks and daily spelling tests that I dread, but this stuffs were my stepping stones to where I am now. Today, I work as editor of a local publishing company, checking spellings, and other stuffs related to books. I find time reading and re-writing but I admit, I never would want to edit a jejemon manuscript. It will surely be a pain in the *ss.

I cannot imagine myself reading one too, it will give me migraine.


I know these jejemons are only creating a world where they can belong, but for sure, it is for me, an alien language. Freedoms of speech is freedom of speech, but no, our freedom does not allow us to change the spellings of words, much more, extend them to crazy additional zzzhhhjjjj.

Hayyyy, for crying out loud, please jejemons, speak or write properly.

Do I qualify myself as a jeje-buster now?

Monday, May 3, 2010

Homonyms, Heteronyms

Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. Heteronyms are a type of homographs that are also spelled the same and have different meanings but sound different.

Here are some samples:

BREAK -

1. to separate into pieces
2. to rest or pause
3. to interrupt something temporarily

NOTE -

1. a musical sound
2. a short letter or message
3. a hint or suggestion of something

HEAD -

1. the part of the body
2. the leader or the director

MANAGE -

1. administer or run something
2. cope in difficult situation
3. be somebody's manager