The Evolution of "HA"

flipper was a name of a hardcore band in the eighties. they came out with a song called "ha ha ha". unimaginably incredible lyrics are associated with this tune and i totally recommend checking them out. but the funniest thing has happened over the years since this band used this word so explicitly. namely msn and/or facebook.

HA! has become one of those incredibly overused words in languages all around the world. It is mostly commonly used as a way to respond verbally to funny things we witness. Other times it's used as a way to act conceited and say "So There! I told you so -- so HA!" But don't ever be confused with the alternative use of "ahhh!" which has an entirely other set of possible situations where it could be used to describe a sense of relief/enjoyment/enlightened understanding; or the abbreviated version: "Ah!" as in The Count's "Ah! Ah! Ah!" after counting from one to fourteen. HA! could never be used in this way shape or form.

The thing that gets me the most though is how web tools like chatting online or writing on walls, or even blogging has drastically change how much more people emphasize the sound of that word when they are actually saying it!

Just listen. People around you at work. School. Your family. Yourself. The enunciation of the "heh" and "ah" sound are unlike anything we've been hearing ever before. I used to joke how Canadians say "eh" while Americans say "huh?" (because they sound pretty clueless about most things) but now it seems The Whole World is just saying HA!

After all. Everything is pretty funny. That, plus thanks to the realization global warming, the know-it-all conceited Al Gores of the world are saying to us all: "We knew you were heading for a disaster like this, So HA! The joke's on YOU!!"

What can we do to end this overuse of this word? Perhaps invent a new word like "mraw!" or start using that Fozzie the Bear's "wakka wakka wakka!" Maybe we can all just choose to go offline. No more networking sites, no more being silly in emails, no more chatting on msn.

Maybe this is all just me, because all of the time I spend and idiotic things I say online. But I couldn't be easily convinced because in addition to this new emphasis on this damn' 2-letter word, I have noticed that people are starting to express them self as the do-er of an action. What I mean is that facebook's status updates are causing people to think in a way that they must now present them self as the new subject which is now doing some verb on some noun. I'd sure like to do some verb on some noun, but refuse to publish Just What That May Be online... So even off of facebook (which is actually seeing less of me these days), I find that people present themselves as explicitly doing something more and more often.

Well now that I have proven to myself how neurotic I in fact truly am, it's time to go update my facebook status. So HA!


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