Thursday, September 1, 2011

On the use of "FML"

I have another Facebook-related public service announcement, you guys. And I'm pretty sure y'all are reasonable adults, so just take this as venting and not as criticism of you all or anything.

I strongly object to people using "FML." The kind of posts that people end with "fml" are, in my experience, not exactly related to life-ruining events. The post that set me off was about an acquaintance leaving her ill-trained and hyperactive dog home alone for twelve hours and the dog destroyed something, which was related in very irritated language and ended with "fml." Really? A dog destroying some cushions on your tacky-looking-anyway couch fucks your life? How about some goddamn perspective?

Here are a few examples of posts I'd be okay with seeing:
- OMG, rebels are breaking into my home and killing my family in front of me. FML.
- I live in a country that still considers women property and I can neither vote nor own land. FML.
- I was raped and am now being threatened by my own family with an honor killing. FML.
- I was victim of a hate crime supported by local law enforcement. FML.
- I was just diagnosed with stage four cancer. FML.

To be honest, this is the image that comes to mind when I read some stupid inconsequential whine about a minor irritation that ends with those letters:
I just feel like we don't really have an right to claim our life is fucked when we get a speeding ticket, you know?

What do you all think? Do you use "fml"? Do you object to it too?

2 comments:

  1. I finally know what "FML" means! HA! :)

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  2. I'm so glad to have been of assistance! I recently had to look up "smh," which a teenage cousin had been putting in her statuses and which apparently means "shaking my head." I can't really see how "shaking my head" needed an acronym, but I'm not a teenager anymore so there might be a crucial part I'm missing.

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