Whoooaaa duuuuude: Why we stretch words in tweets and texts

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On Twitter, when a simple ha won't do, there's always hahahaaaa, haaaahaaaa, or even hahahahahahahahahahahahaha, indicating you've just read the funniest thing you've ever seen. (Or that you're a sarcastic talking raccoon.) These are known as stretchable or lengthened words, and now researchers from the University of Vermont have figured out just how pervasive they are on Twitter, uncovering fascinating patterns about their use.

Stretchability is a powerful linguistic device that visually punches up a written word, imparting a wide range of emotions. That goes for the gooooooaaaaaaal of a soccer announcer, a teenager's exasperated finallyyyyy, and a surfer's aweeeeeesome. And booooyare they popular on Twitter. Writing today in the journal PLOS One, the researchers detail how they combed through 100 billion tweets, mapping how often these words are stretched, and how far they are elongated-haha versus hahahahaaaa, for example.

Consider dude and its many formulations. That can convey basically anything, like Duuuuude, that's awful,'" says University of Vermont applied mathematician Peter Sheridan Dodds, one of the study's coauthors. On the other hand, Dude!" is different. It could be excitement; it could be joy," says Dodds.

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