Clarification: I’m not a native English speaker. I’ve been gaming online for the past ~15-20 years, and it feels like there has been an increase in this kind of response in the past few years. Now, I know that it’s not always serious: people started using it as ‘no way’ or meaning ‘wow, serious?’ recently.
BUT what has taken me aback is the frequency at which I’ve been seeing ‘stfu’ as a response to something I either meant seriously, or maybe said it in a light-hearted manner, but not necessarily as a joke - often as a first exchange. To me it still literally means Shut The Fuck Up, and whenever I see it, my immediate reaction is that the person on the other end actually meant it exactly as rude as I have always perceived it all my life.
Would you not take this as an offense, provided it’s the first interaction between you and a completely random person? Would you immediately feel they are rude, neutral or straight out saying it very lightly? Is the usage really changing? Do you think they actually mean ‘shut up’, and they just add the ‘f’ because everyone else does it?
EDIT: Wow, thanks a lot for your angles! I forgot to mention, but let’s assume that ‘stfu’ is the first and only response you see from this random person. I am also fine with dealing with different situations, I’m not primarily looking for advice (After ~20 years of online gaming experience, I can tell you I’ve seen most of it); I am mostly interested in your perspective: what vibe would you assume, based on only these four letters?
Considering how vile most internet discourse is it doesn’t really register to me at this point, but I’m probably desensitized. Also to be clear on your last point, shut up is also a rude phrase in english. Adding “the fuck” is only an emphasis.
I was thinking the same! But I started seeing videos lately where a conversational partner (typically a young girl, but that could be some bias) responded with ‘shut up’ in a cheerful manner, seemingly meaning some pleasant surprise mixed with disbelief. And this feels rather recent to me - hence my doubt. But I’m relieved if I’m not the only one, thanks. I wonder if it’s a generational (or a non-existent?) thing.
Ok that context helps a lot. It’s not uncommon for young women to use phrases like that playfully. Unless it’s clearly meant to be an insult you can assume they are just trying to be emphatic in their disbelief. It’s not particularly recent, the playful use of those phrases at least goes back to the 90’s in America, I can’t say elsewhere.