it seems as if english is mutating into a more basic and easy to use language through a complete lack of grammar and thought by its speakers most of the time.
what do you thing is the future of our prized language?
it seems as if english is mutating into a more basic and easy to use language through a complete lack of grammar and thought by its speakers most of the time.
what do you thing is the future of our prized language?
congratulations, we have a winner for the most ironic post in the universe...
quoth doubleanti...what do you thing is the future of our prized language?
what's wrong with slang? point being that we are fluent in english and typing shift all the time hurts our pinky fingers... hehe... nonetheless, it's not like we don't know that others wouldn't know what we were talking about anyway... least i'd have that confidence when i type [there are some of us who don't seem to follow this... hehe...]
so, if anyone finds my mod-induced typing non-stance annoying, please annoy me about it...
hasafraggin shizigishin oppashigger...
I would think that a big part of that is that alot of people on the internet , chat rooms , message boards are not speaking english as a first languish. Me for example are from Sweden I have seen posts that is from Danish , Germans Norviegen..etc. I am currently living in US and compared to my nativ swedish I think this languish is very flat and poor on words. Now my spelling and grammer s*** even in Swedish and it isn't better in English. And for this board I don't think people really care that much about the Eng grammar but more about the C languish grammar.
there you have it...english sucks!
I type extremly fast, I dont spell right even though I can spell right. I generally use words that fit the situation instead of dope, awesome, gay ,etc. The english language isnt getting degenerated (is devaluation even a word?) you are just getting older . The american language is very similar to all other forms of english and pretty much the exact same as canadian except with out all the "eh" in it.
hey kosh, i remember you from the old board, hehe.
Anyhow, devaluation is synonymous with degradation or disintigration. It is a word. I actually found it while i was reading the Wall Street Journal for no appearant reason..... it was talking about the devaluation of certain internet based companies.
Devaluation refers to reducing the value of something (i.e. Mexico devaluing the Peso or a company devaluing its stock price). It isn't really a synonym of disintegration.
I don't particularly think the language is decaying or simplifying, just changing. Words come and go and change definition all the time; that's why we have so many languages in the first place.
Languages evolve; the English of today is different from the English of 1800, and the American even more so.
In this case, however, the language is changing for pure laziness. When printing was invented, it was far faster to typeset a letter 'U' than the word 'you', yet the word did not shorten until the 20th century. People now can type faster and send more data than ever before; spelling and grammar checkers abound. The lack of barriers gives a huge, multilingual and multicultural society. Yet spelling and grammar have degraded, and the result is a language all but unintelligible. The reasons why have been dissected time and time again, but between SMS and e-mail, the language - or at least, people's grasp of it - is regressing.
For an example of this, one need look no further than the 'smilies' box to the left of the one in which I type. Why should we need to draw faces in our statements, unless we have lost the ability to express it in words? 'Evolution' implies improvement to suit changing conditions, yet the loss of the beauty and expression of English is no improvement (as Barjor demonstrates). Recast Shakespeare, Byron or even George Washington in 'modern' terminology and see for yourself if you retain the poetry and beauty of the original.
Ess
Like a rat in a maze who says,
"Watch me choose my own direction"
Are you under the illusion
The path is winding your way? - Rush
Code:/* Yes this will actually compile */ #include <stdio.h> void ReadOn(void); void DontBother(void); int main(void) { int userchoice; printf("Press 1 to read on, 2 to quit\n"); printf("What would you like to do? "); scanf("%d", &userchoice); if (userchoice == 1) ReadOn(); else DontBother(); return 0; } void ReadOn(void) { printf("\nPerhaps we could all just start writing out our posts like this\n" "then you could grade us on our code style as well as our speech :O\n\n" "[stealth]\n\n"); } void DontBother(void) { printf("\nYou have quit the program, and not bothered to read my thoughts!\n" "[stealth]\n\n"); }
If you people think the English language is in decline, maybe
you should for one second tear off your blinders and pick
up a copy of the Times of London or New York and start
reading. Pick up a copy of Playboy and (after browsing the
photos) find and article and start reading. The same goes
for Wired, Time, Dr. Dobbs, and any other successful pub-
lication you can find.
Actually, if you compare the journalism and literature of today
to comparable examples written prior to 1900, you should
find with few exceptions that the writing of today's world is
much more readable than that which came before.
The problem here, as always, lies with those who think they see
in others everything that's wrong with the world when in
actuality what they are seeing is a reflection of their own
shortcomings. And to extend that thought and provide a solution
to those perceived deficiencies I would suggest that anyone
who is worried about the course of the English language
should study and exercise its proper use diligently as an
example for others to follow.
rick barclay
No. Wait. Don't hang up!
This is America calling!
Indeed, but do you see smilies, 'u' as a word, and the absence of capitalization in newspapers, or even online articles made by major organizations? Even most posts at this board stick to standard conventions. A minority of users adopts relaxed punctuational and spelling rules for their own convenience. But most other people use the standard practice. Given that a few hundred years ago most members of society were illiterate in even the most advanced countries, the fact that some people today choose not to capitalize in internet correspondence does not indicate to me that the language is deteriorating.
Edit: to clarify, this is in response to Esss. Rick barklay beat me by a few seconds!
Last edited by Procyon; 09-01-2001 at 07:49 PM.
well, you have all made good points on this matter and it appears that i have successfully started a good topic for once that isn't absolutely mindless. I congratulate myself.
To tell you all the truth i enjoy the english language very much as it is. I love playing games with words and having verbal sparring matches with people, although most of the time people aren't verbally advanced enough to throw a good amount of force into and arguement and use some type of oratorial (is this a word?) or debating technique.
Well, then again, this could be because Dune has greatly influenced my views of language. You see, in the Dune books Frank Herbert discribes the nuances and strategies of conversation. It seems as if every conversation that characters in his books have have some type of underlying current of emotion and thought that goes deeper than 80% of the useless jibba-jabba that we throw mindlessly at each other and call 'debating'. Then again, Frank Herbert's Dune takes place in a distant future: who knows how advanced the human mind will be by then?
aran... as Courtier is to relationships (try and parallel it to modern times will ya? i'd read it...), and The Prince is to politics, you should write a book on words, if one hasn't already been written...
oh, and speaking of which... how many of you see the abbr. "lol" and say in your head the phonetic "lol" instead of the spelling? weird huh?
hasafraggin shizigishin oppashigger...
Guess I'll have to go out and buy me a Frank Herbert book
now, won't I? I bought the bladerunner book after
govt cheez said something about it, but we never discussed it.
Oh well. I had the bladerunner computer game, but the book
didn't help with that. I have the Dune game, too, so the book
probably won't help with that, either. Under $10.00 for a
535-page book--not a bad value, maybe. If I recall correctly,
the movie kind of puked. Oh, well, I'll give it a shot.
rick barclay
No. Wait. Don't hang up!
This is America calling!
Bah! There will always be english majors who correct good an well. Most people just talk in the vernacular, that's all. Americans aren't the only people who do it, though; read the play "pygmalion". that criticized the British commonfold for the way they spoke.
Unless, of course, you're talking about ebonics, which I don't know. I do, however, consider it a language onto itself.
