The Degeneration of the English Language

Gawker has a slightly interesting post about the degeneration of the English language as it relates to LOLcats. I have been thinking about this topic myself recently, as I saw on some kids TV channels this weekend that they were using "text speak" to spell out a lot of the self-promos. Like they would say "Now: Show 1," "Next: Show 2," "L8r: Show 3." And instead of "after these messages we'll be right back" they did "BRB."

I've read about how some schools have been allowing students to submit papers and essays written in text speak, and this bothers me. It hurts my ears to hear someone say "I ain't never seen it" when they want to say "I did not see it" or "I don't want no more of that" or even "seen" instead of "saw," as in "I seen it earlier." Those all hurt my ears and offend my delicate sensibilities because of their blatant abuse of the English language and proper grammar.

When I interview people for jobs if someone came in and said any one of the things I listed above I would immediately reject them off hand. And my step-son speaks like that. At first I thought it was just a phase but then I realized that that is how his grandparents and great-grandparents speak so why would he speak properly? It embarasses me if we are out in public and he or my wife uses improper grammar.

Yes, I actually sit around and think about this stuff. It reminds me of the controversy in the late 80s about the measures France took to preserve the integrity of its language. At the time it seemed ridiculous and closed-minded but now it seems very prescient. I don't know anything about the use of "text speak" in France but I would wager it is nowhere near what it is in the US.

Hopefully as phones get more advanced and get full keyboards some of the advantages of abbreviating everything will be lost. But by that time the laziness of text speak will probably be irreparably engraved in the minds of a good number of Americans.

They say that due to the obesity epidemic we may, for the first time in history, have a generation with a shorter life-expectancy than its parents. I would say that it appears that our culture is degenerating pretty rapidly as well. People are just plain stupid these days and most of them do not get a decent education. I have some other theories about degeneration, specifically de-evolution of a biological nature, that I don't want to get into as it might be considered somewhat sensitive and offensive.

Bottom line - we are all going to hell in a handbasket.