On April 23rd, reigning Norris trophy winner/Matt Cooke assault victim Erik Karlsson joined Twitter. In just 34 days, the Swedish defenseman has revolutionized the Internet with one hashtag: #lalala. In 59 tweets, Karlsson has used the hashtag 11 times. That’s a league-leading 19% hashtag rate.
A few examples:
Nice little camp fire 🙂 #lalala twitter.com/ErikKarlsson65…
— Erik Karlsson (@ErikKarlsson65) May 27, 2013
Great afternoon.! Watched bayern score the first one in the CL final and then off for a walk. #lalala twitter.com/ErikKarlsson65…
— Erik Karlsson (@ErikKarlsson65) May 25, 2013
Why order room service when the food isn’t even that good.? Haha. #lazyday #lalala
— Erik Karlsson (@ErikKarlsson65) May 23, 2013
What a feeling ! Doh doh doh doh doh! Nuff said! #lalala
— Erik Karlsson (@ErikKarlsson65) May 10, 2013
On May 1st, Ottawa Sun reporter Don Brennan tried to figure out what the phrase meant, but Karlsson stonewalled him. “You’re going to figure it out after awhile I think,” he said. “It’s still early in the Twitter career. It’s a very special thing.”
Showmanship.
Since I’m 28-years-old and no longer hip with what the kids say these days, I did some research. Urban Dictionary describes lalala as “a filler to represent the state of being happy, confused, or just about any emotion you can imagine.” Also noteworthy: Karlsson retweeted Snoop Lion, who has a song on the topic.
Still no idea what this means. Oh well, yolo.
And then on Monday, Nicklas Backstrom was driving around Sweden and sent Karlsson a tweet.
@erikkarlsson65 din båt de här? #lalala twitter.com/backstrom19/st…
— Nicklas Backstrom (@backstrom19) May 27, 2013
Backstrom says, as translated by blog buddy Jake Ware, “is this your boat?”
@backstrom19 hahahah ja den är på ett släp påväg till GBG !!
— Erik Karlsson (@ErikKarlsson65) May 27, 2013
Karlsson responds, “Hahahah, Yes. It is on a trailer on the way to the GBG.” GBG is an abbreviation for Gothenburg, or Göteborg in Swedish, which is Sweden’s second biggest city. Karlsson wasn’t born there, but that is where Frölunda, his old junior team, is based. Karlsson likely resides there over the summer.
@erikkarlsson65 King de!
— Nicklas Backstrom (@backstrom19) May 27, 2013
Backstrom then finishes the conversation by saying, “That’s boss.”
Swedes, man. They’re weird.
