“Lawl,” “jay kay,” “roffle” and “gee tee eff oh.” Sound familiar?

It’s odd you’d have heard them at all, for each of these terms originated in print and for print’s sake.

In fact, it makes almost no logical sense that we should actually pronounce any of these terms aloud, for each of them was invented to save energy for our fingers rather than our tongues.

But, as the overwhelming majority of English communication takes place in type, the language’s evolution is occurring at increasingly rapid rates. And it didn’t start with the computer or the cell phone.

Languages are like species: They adapt to their environments, consume one another and, in time, evolve.

So we must consider the environment in which the language resides: texts, tweets, websites, etc. In the case of progressing technology, it’s a matter of form meeting function.

As new technology arises, we need words to describe the previously unthinkable or unknown. An interesting application of this would be the origin of the word “cliché.”

A French term, the word originated with the use of the printing press. Typically, words existed on printing stamps and would be arranged to print the text of a page.

However, certain phrases would be so common that one could simply make a plate with the series of words rather than rearranging the words repeatedly.

These common terms came to be known as “clichés,” named after the sound of the press as it stamped the phrase.

In the case of texting, we notice the same progressions taking place today more rapidly than ever before.

Consider the jump from texting on a phone with number pads rather than a QWERTY keyboard on a touchscreen.

Texts were quick, shorthand messages rampant with abbreviations due to the inefficiency of typing on keypads. This difficulty gave rise to most of the cell-phone slang that exists today, like the “lol’s” and “jk’s.”

With touchscreens and QWERTY keyboards, most of these are no longer necessary, and so the evolution of language continues.

What bothers me are the complaints regarding this progression.

I still recall high school English teachers lamenting the use of “impact” or “gift” as verbs. “Text” has met the same end.

But complaining about the rapid change of language is akin to every generation of adults complaining about the youth these days. When they complain about the unruliness and lack of manners, what they’re really noting is their disconnect from a changing culture.

I find the evolution beautiful. It’s a sign of our progress as a species and world culture.

Just like biological evolution, we can count on the most efficient words and phrases to win out.

For instance, we use German words like “dopplegänger” and “poltergeist” because English lacked terms to describe these concepts.

Fortunately for us, English dominates the electronic sphere. While we may complain about the use of terms like “noob” or “pwn,” non-English speakers have to deal with the fact that the vast majority of all Internet content is in English.

So, as technology advances, odds are all of the new language required to describe it will be in English, and even more interestingly, we can use technology as a barometer for how the evolution will take place.

Generally speaking, Moore’s Law predicts technology will double in efficiency every two years, marking an exponential increase.

Today’s generation of texters, posters and tweeters is only the beginning.

Globalization, as has been said time and again, is inevitable, and undoubtedly a world language is on the way. What we may not have considered is the fact that this world language will be codified on the Internet.

So next time someone criticizes Internet lingo as detrimental to the English language, know that linguistic evolution is inevitable.

We should embrace it as such.