What is happening to the english language?

Question

Seriously, so many of the questions/answers on here are a mess! Are people on here lazy or just stupid? I know I am opening myself up to a bunch of broken, slang english answers. I want an answer that doesn't have any text message/ AIM lingo. I have graded COLLEGE papers where students use terms, such as LOL and idk in their FINAL PAPERS! It's atrocious that our language is being slaughtered this way and it sounds really unintelligent. What are we teaching children these days?

Answer 1

I think it's disintegrating into a hail of soundbites... -Little fragments of Information that "say" little, & "mean" less. Organized "thought"- seems to be on the way OUT... -no one has the "time" for explainations anymore... Maybe our language is merely returning to the time when we all spoke in the "shorthand" of grunts, squeeks, & exclaimations...

Answer 2

I know! Sometimes reading questions on here I find myself saying what? I know that I by far have the best use of the English language and spell a word wrong many times or a typo. (I'm sure I'll have a few in here) however at least I can still be understood and make my point clear. Some are so bad I can't even figure out what is trying to be conveyed. I mean there is a check speller on here for gosh sakes!



Language, written or spoken is one of the very basic ways to express yourself and if you can't do it in a way you can be understood, even on a basic level, then? What do you have?? I think that is where a lot of mis-communication occurs. I think it's funny you get acronyms used in computer slang in college essays. Shows the changing of the times, I guess.

Answer 3

It's all about education. There has been a mediocrity slide in American education since the late 1960's. I was there when it began and was just finishing up high school at the time.



Part of this is because teaching doesn't pay enough money to attract the best teachers and like one of my college professors once said: "Every teacher is an English teacher too." It is also becoming harder for American parents to raise kids since this is no longer the Leave it to Beaver / Father Knows Best - 1950's and many parents are having to work two and three jobs to support their families.



While I don't apologize for people wh speak bad English, I still try not to see them as all bad people. The situation is more complex than that.

Answer 4

Oh the irony. . . The really sad thing is that this is not only happening in English; but to almost all languages. Written language is being slowly supplanted by typed language and if that wasn't enough now they are obviating capital letters, apostrophes, and do not get me started with double negatives. It is this simplied (sic) way of life. . . Grammar by Messenger and spelling by Motorola. The really sad part is when the best grammar and the most innovative use of vocabulary comes from someone who is studying English as a second language. . .

Answer 5

Well when I am talking to my friends on AIM they don't care that you use the simplified form because it is easier for saying something you say often. Rather than saying 'That is funny' just say lol. Or rather than saying talk to you later, it is ttyl. It just makes it a simpler, faster conversation. I'm a teenager and I have never used any AIM 'lingo' in any papers I turned in for school except if we had to write out own creative stories in English class. But if you want your paper to be taken seriously I would suggest spelling everything correctly and typing/writing out the whole word.

Answer 6

In the culture of "fast & now" you cannot but find clipped words. The faster you go the less time you have to communicate with a complete sentence. The trend becomes scary when you hear people begin to speak as they write. There is no real solution to this. Languages mutate over time. You can’t put a leash on language - you can try to tame and guide it but you cannot stop its mutation.

Answer 7

You make a good point. The problem with internet grammar (grammar being used losely) is that when it was invented no one had the foresight to come up with net ettiquite. E-mail, IMs, and text messages are meant to be brief and to the point hence the shorthand like IDK instead of typing i don't know. The problem is that in our society kids don't know when to stop using this type of familiar grammar; espically in a country where good grammar has become something looked down upon.

Answer 8

Probably a more simplied system of spelling, grammar and vocabulary could reduce the headaches of both native and non-native learners globally.



Most young persons want things fast and easy.

Answer 9

i never allowed my kids to talk ghetto or in slang, and always taught them to use English grammar at its best. i think that is a parents chore, then the school educators. now, when I'm typing for yahoo answers i don't apply this rule to myself. besides, not every one in yahoo answers have an intelligent response to give. i was reported and got a violation notice just for saying: "que viva puerto rico y mi bandera americana". i don't think i offended nobody, but hey, what can you expect?

Answer 10

Haha... zis must be a jok, but yes it mad me smil, so u got a sta.

Answer 11

its evolving like all languages do. stop being a clog and start being a cog!

Answer 12

Well, Eubonics for starters.