at a loss for words

Apparently that was the case concerning the most recent installment to the Oxford English Dictionary. As many of you probably know, last Thursday several Internet abbreviations made their way into the Dictionary. Among the additions are OMG, LOL, IMHO, LMAO, TMI, BFF WAG and FYI. Slang and other figures of speech were also included, such as Muffin Top, La-La Land, Dot-Bomb, Couch Surfing, and the unspoken Five-Second Rule. Not to mention the inclusion of the <3 heart symbol.

Although I understand that these "terms" are a sign of the times, I think that these updates are quite possibly some of the most ridiculous that I've ever heard (and even some that I haven't heard before..ie: WAG). I'm embarrassed that these non-words and text lingo are the profound additions that our generation has to offer to the world of vocabulary.

In high school, my senior English teacher had to come up with a policy against what she referred to as "text speak" because she would receive papers that were laden with incorrect spelling and word usage typical of text messages. The sad thing is that the students who were guilty of the infraction had become so accustomed to their informal way of communicating that they were increasingly unable to retrain their brain in order to communicate effectively and formally. Communication is a basic component of human life and if we lose the ability to communicate adequately with others we are losing something far more essential to life than we realize.

The complete list of revisions and additions is available here.