A report commissioned by the European Office of Internet Affairs (EOIA) claims that overuse of slang terms in text messages and internet chatter is causing the value of humour to drop significantly worldwide.
Benard Wouters, an EOIA researcher involved with the report, has criticised internet conversationalists for their 'selfish, thoughtless attitude' to acronym use: 'Most LOLs typed by computer users are not even accompanied by a minor real-life chuckle, whilst controlled experiments show that an incredibly small proportion of ROFLs included any significant amount of 'floor time' at all,' he said. 'This indiscriminate use of LOL and ROFL as a relatively minor conversational interlude is having a direct and detrimental effect on the market value of genuine comedy gold.'
For many years now, the government-mandated installation of webcams on new computers has allowed the policing of WTF and OMG use to reduced faux surprise levels nationwide, but Wouters says that ROFL and LMAO detection is still in it's infancy: 'The ready availability of height-adjustable chairs means we can no longer take the drop in seating position as a reliable indicator,' he said, 'so we simply have no way of telling if someone's arse has genuinely dropped off.'
