Wednesday, October 27, 2010
WHY -
Each day that I live and have contact with people I ask myself WHY? Why has the English language become what it is today.
Many years ago when I was in school our use of the language was closely monitored not only by our teachers but by parents. Ain't was a no-no as were other contractions.
In the 1930's when Roosevelt became president the nation was introduced to such things as CCC, WPA, and other short cuts for government programs. In the 40's and 50's we were introduced to the AFL, CIO, WWl, WWll, Uboat, and the like. As the population grew, and immigration became an issue, most food labels were written in both English and Spanish, as were directions for putting childrens toys together.
In the first near east war we were intoduced to "nukes" - but we also, in this day and age, "nuke" our food. In the dictionary "Prim" means a person with proper manners, or staid of dress, however, many of you collect "prims." When I read your blogs it makes me wonder how many people you have collected and installed in your home. The kitchen must get awfully crowded in the morning!
Now we find ourselves in the computer age. We have introduced ourselves to LOL. OMG, U, R, >3, -), -( and more symbols than I can create here. Seems to me that we are back to the Indian and Egyptian hyrogliphs system. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE?
Each morning when I surf the blogs it gives me the greatest pleasure to read the blog "From the House of Edward." What a treat to read the beautiful language usage of Pamela Terry. If you have not read this blog, you are missing a wonderful experience.
The English language has a beautiful rythmn to it. What a shame to spoil it with symbols and so many shortcuts. I think it would serve us all well if we took the time to speak our language and to appreciate what we have.
Today's use of the language proves that "what goes around comes around."
Doris
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7 comments:
Hi Doris,
And with the downward slide of our language, the spelling and punctuation has taken a nosedive too. People no longer know how to write complete sentences. (Maybe I better check my own blog! hehe!)
Yes, Pamela Terry is an intellegent and articulate writer. Her blog is a delight to read!
Hello Doris! Wow, am I guilty or what!!?? It is very hard and time consuming for me to write my blog posts. Spell check helps....but I am no master of the english language that's for sure! The dictionary is usually by my side. I read Pamela Terry's blog and it is delightful. I do have to say that starting a blog and having to write so often has helped me improve my writing skills from what they were a few months ago! It will be a long and arduous process for me to completely change. I will try though for your sake Doris! I want you to keep reading my blog LOL(sorry)
Hugs!
Cathy G
Doris I read your post with delight.
I remember that a post was something that we attached wires on to keep the cows in the pasture.
I agree with you that there are way too many short cut in the language and if my grandmother came back she would be at a lost to read or understand the language. She would not know what is a CD, DVD, URL ATV, RV and Cell and so on. Have you ever seen a young person text messages? It's all together another language. Even Spell check can't keep up with all the new jargon.
English is my second language and I feel lost even with French which is my mother tongue. There are lots of new terminology that I haven't a clue what the mean in French.
JB
Oh Doris ~
U r so right...lol!
Until my boys went to school, they thought ain't, shut-up and yeah were bad words. That quickly changed. I know they don't appreciate it, but I will still correct bad grammar. They think I am the grammar nazi!
Hugs :)
Lauren
Amen! And you can add that people should speak s-l-o-w-e-r.... around where I live, folks get their 40 year life story out in 40 seconds or less... I'll visit that suggested blog this weekend... thanks Doris!
Oh Doris,
You are correct and I'm afraid I did giggle when I read your post and even more when I read the comments between you and Julia. I did not get offended, but paranoid. I quickly scrolled through some of my posts and comments to see just how bad I had become! I will check out the blog you recommended. But I'm still going to use LOL often!
Kim :)
Goodness, what a surprise! Thank you so much for the kind compliment. Like you, I truly love the beauty of the English language. We are all so fortunate to have its riches at our disposal and should take care to use it to its fullest. Wonderful post and I so appreciate your kind words.
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