( CNN ) -- Back in the day , Shakespeare enriched the English language by pumping out neologisms like a maniac . Fast forward 400-plus years , and we do n't really have an official bard , per se -- at least not in corporeal form . Nope , if you want to put your finger on the entity that 's currently shaping and torquing our lexicon like a game of drunken Twister , you 're already there : Look down at your keyboard , and then at the screen and down at your keyboard again . Yup . Our bard would be the internet , breeding ground of such gems as `` BRB , '' `` tweet , '' and , sadly , `` OMG ! ! ! ! ! '' Some may call the advent of internet-speak the demise of the English language , and to them we would say , `` STFU . '' Last year , `` unfriend '' was deemed the word of the year by the Oxford American Dictionary . So , much like that tattoo of your initials you got emblazoned across your butt last summer after too many G & Ts , this new slang is here to stay . Besides , Shakespeare coined the word `` puke , '' so it was n't all sunshine and roses back in the 1500s , anyway . Still , there are some internet terms that do n't quite translate when applied to real-life situations ( or , OK , any situation other than the original and intended one ) , because they 're too obtuse , redundant or just plain stupid . Here 's our take on three of the most awkward phrases and symbols to go from screen to scene : . # . Ah , the hashtag . First introduced into the Twitter lexicon by Chris Messina in 2007 , the hashtag was originally a way to tie together common threads of conversation ( e.g. , Follow Friday , tweets relating to events , news about natural disasters ) . Now , however , the hashtag has also become a way in which to emphasize certain ideas on the microblogging site ( `` This weekend has completely murdered my soul # whiskeyandheartache ) , and , more recently , to denote sarcasm and caustic wit ( `` Wow , I really enjoyed that show . Etch-a-Sketch art is totally dope . More free wine , however , would have made the experience much more tolerable . # JustSayin ' ) . That 's all well and good in the Twitterverse , but when taken into the real world , the hashtag is a bit harder to hash out . You see , the majority of society -- you know , the people who do n't sit in front of their computers tweeting about how `` Eating pancakes makes me feel like death now that I 'm 30 # notakidanymore '' -- does n't understand what the hell you 're saying when you tack what amounts to a pound sign onto any given sentence/word in your correspondence ( e-mails , etc. ) . In fact , they could get offended by what you think is an artfully punctuated joke . Listen , we do not yet have a symbol that translates into sarcasm ( despite lofty efforts by the folks over at Sarcmark ) , and the hashtag is no exception . So , for now , stick to being caustic and dry , and even then , watch your mouth . Not everyone is socially fluent enough to recognize superior wit when they see it . # JustSayin ' ... @ . MoMA 's Department of Architecture and Design may have added the `` @ '' sign to its collection in March , but the artfully looping symbol has yet to find any real foothold in the conversational realm . Look , it makes sense to add an @ to your name on Twitter , and Facebook now has a handy tagging feature that works with the addition of that particular keystroke , but referring to your friends as `` @ Tom '' or `` @ T-Bone '' in digital parlance such as e-mail or chat is just ... well ... redundant . You already said their name , so why do you need a directive ? Even more egregious is rattling off your Twitter handle in any person-to-person situation ( Exception : At tech and social media events this rule is a little less hard and fast , given that your Twitter handle is akin to your phone number ) . Not only does it reek of self-promotion , it 's just weird . And take it from us , tech and social-media experts ' behavioral standards should not exactly be your yardstick of appropriateness . LOL . Hey , did you know that before `` LOL '' came to mean `` laughing out loud , '' it was code for `` little old lady '' in the medical world ? Well , unless you 're a doc alerting your compatriots to the arrival of a particularly ornery blue-haired broad , never should you stir your vocal cords to utter the phrase `` LOL . '' Why ? Because you 're not actually laughing . The day that LOL becomes common parlance , my friends , will be the day that this whole internet Bard-penned comedy will become a complete and utter tragedy .
Some internet terms do not translate when applied to real - life situations . The # has become a way in which to emphasize certain ideas on Twitter . You can tag a name by adding @ to your account on Twitter or Facebook . ` ` LOL '' was code for ` ` little old lady '' before it came to mean ` ` laughing out loud ''