Kill. Me. Now.
I think it originated with Gawker’s car site, Jalopnik and their “because racecar” meme: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/because-race-car
Because Ennui?
Because comment.
It’s a shortening of the “because of” compound preposition. For now, it’ll probably retain the connotation that the speaker implies a the slightest bit of humor or sarcasm towards others’ strong feelings regarding what is being described, but I can definitely see this completely replacing “because of” in most settings within a hundred years or so.
EDIT: P.S.: I think it’s more acceptable than, say, someone misspelling “lose” and “loose”.
I thought it was spelled “beacuase”.
Time was I could look forward to dying before then, but now, who knows? (“Because Singularity,” a younger, hipper Donald might say.)
I was also going to claim that the vast majority of my writing is not actually written for the Internet’s consumption (and so I feel no urge to write shit like this), but I fear that that’s not actually a True Fact anymore. God damn it.
Seems like an awful lot of hubbub over dropping the “of.”
But that’s not really the same as the new use. The new form is more dismissive, as in “I don’t want to explain the whole thing to you, so figure it out on your own.”
Because why?
After I saw someone post “Grats on your cheeve, Brah” and knew what was meant, (and also that I would never come close to speaking like that) I realized that whooshing noise I heard was the evolution of language passing me by in my middle age.
I read the article - which is fine. Then I had one of those moments where I knew what the comments would be prior to reading them, and yet felt compelled to open them anyway. Because boingboing.
I think the age issue has more to do with failure to understand than failure to join the lexical in-groups, so you’re still good.
I don’t think it’s so much “I don’t want to explain” as “I don’t have to explain” and/or “I can’t rationally explain”.
I generally see it used hereabouts as a caustic summing-up of somebody else’s inadequate explanation or rationale for doing something lame or dumb or actionable or essentially unjustifiable. At least in its “because reasons” form.
So precious.
Things we do to show we belong.
And the battle between prescriptivist and descripitionist wages on. For comment, a small child: “Verbing weirds language” aha, and so it does, young Calvin, as it has since first it was uttered “Uncle me no uncles”
“¿Por qué?”
“Porque.”
“¿Por qué porque?”
“Porque porqué.”
“¡Dime por qué porqué es la razón por que porque!”
“¿…Qué?”
Homer Simpson did the whole “drop words to simplify” first:
http://www.amazon.com/Posters-Simpsons-Poster-Eating-inches/dp/B00BMFB8S0
