Althouse: "ICYMI makes staying connected feel like a constant game of catch-up, like finding things at a slower pace warrants some kind of disclaimer."

January 3, 2015

"ICYMI makes staying connected feel like a constant game of catch-up, like finding things at a slower pace warrants some kind of disclaimer."

"If it’s someone else’s work, why do you need to say 'ICYMI’' or apologize by saying, 'Sorry, this is old'? You’re rewarded for being first, not for being the most excited about something."

12 comments:

Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Time to make the doughnuts... fried doughnuts.; 1/3/15, 10:07 AM
eustace said...: "Stale" is more descriptive than old.; 1/3/15, 10:26 AM
Danno said...: The blog-readers here at Althouse rely on Ann to keep us informed of relevant matters and to filter out the rest.; 1/3/15, 10:54 AM
wildswan said...: I like the part about the mysterious existence of information which seems to exist for a millisecond like a passing snowflake, but only seems to twinkle and disappear, because it then enters a near vegetative existence from which it may suddenly be resuscitated at any time like King Arthur. Though such information is mainly resuscitated by one's political opponents.
Me, I'm buying a fountain pen and I'm going to compose essays and prove I am not a robot to a future generation; 1/3/15, 11:22 AM
Anonymous said...: I always figured this was the reason it was called "reddit."

On the opposite end of the etiquette spectrum, you have 'old people spam' wherein decade(s)-old false virus warnings and fact-free political rants untouched by a courtesy Snopes checks are forwarded from various relatives. ( I received one from someone somewhat within my own age range recently - *really* depressing. lol. )

Pet Peeve: online info without dates and poor dating functionality on search engines.; 1/3/15, 11:58 AM
mikee said...: "Repost" as a comment, followed by insults to the posting individual, are the typical response to re-use of original content on reddit.

Without reference to the originator of material, declaiming something for one's own use, as if oneself originated it, used to be called plagiarism.

Or pulling a "Biden" if a US politician did so.; 1/3/15, 12:55 PM
Unknown said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/3/15, 4:21 PM
Robert Cook said...: What does this even mean? I stared at it for minutes before I deduced that it may mean "In Case You Missed It." Is this it? Why don't people just fucking type what they mean to say rather than expect us to puzzle over these enigmatic acronyms?; 1/3/15, 4:22 PM
From Inwood said...: R Cook

Before the 'Net, it could be a problem when you wrote something obvious in a memo, etc. leading up to your conclusion. That is, someone easily offended, might feel that you were condescending.

Thus, boilerplate phrases were added such as "as you know" or "as you are no doubt aware" or, here "in case you missed it".

Some of these boilerplate phrases, have been, as with WW II military phrases such as "SNAFU" or "AWOL" which have come into civilian life, reduced to acronyms.

You can GOOGLE "ICYMI" or "ROFL" & you'll be au courant.

Next lesson: "Frequent Foreign Phrases Used By Smartasses To Make Them Sound Smart"

In today's internet more of some of these "polite-ese" phrases have been shortened into acronyms; 1/3/15, 8:38 PM
From Inwood said...: Last line should have been removed in my last post.

sorry; 1/3/15, 8:41 PM
MadisonMan said...: IMIBHAL.

I missed it by having a life.; 1/4/15, 6:55 AM
Bob R said...: I was going to comment, but then clicked through and found 1200 words on ICYMI. IMI.; 1/4/15, 7:27 AM