Last week a colleague asked me which form of the word through fit better in the context of what he was trying to say: 't-h-r-u' or 't-h-r-o-u-g-h'. In retrospect I feel bad for the kid, for I can only imagine the look of utter disbelief on my face. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and my jaw nearly hit the floor.
Don't get me wrong, I do not claim to have any authority what-so-ever when it comes to grammar. I am still a student, and always will be, when it comes to learning words and the proper use of them. But I was a bit dumbfounded at his question, and it got me thinking about the downfall of the English language.
I find it sad that words like "there" and "their" are used interchangeably, that "you're" becomes "your" and the difference between "then" and "than" is often overlooked. I can perhaps understand how homophones may get mixed up (seeing as how auto-correct doesn't pick up on them) but "you're" and "your" are not such. Neither are "lose" and "loose". Frankly, it gets to be irritating.
The English spoken in the US is already a far cry from propriety when compared to its British counterpart. This lack of propriety, as it were, cannot be drawn from the fact that English has many an origin. This surely cannot be the reason for our sub-par jargon. Perhaps American English was intended to be this way seeing the rebellious nature of the Americans. But then again, could it be that what started off as replica of British English has evolved in this way because we as a culture have simply become lazy?
I do not doubt that the aforementioned laziness comes from the advent of word processors that made spell-check and correct grammar a no-brainer. By the same token, it comes as no surprise that the new age of technology has only made this negligence worse. With the exception, perhaps, of scholars and writers, chances are the common man is no longer stopping to consider his words.
Sadly, the problem that began with the word processors seems irreparable in this age of social media and text messaging. Every text box on the web has auto spell correct, and text messaging has sprouted the emergence of unthinkable shorthand for an astounding number of words; many of which seem like gibberish to the inexperienced eye. Lets not forget twitter. The 'say what you need in 140 characters or less' phenomenon has made such shorthand a new vernacular all its own.
The ease of writing that comes with such applications seems to have made us all, to an extent, inept not only when it comes to basic language skills, but also propriety in correspondence, through the web, or otherwise. Over the years, with the convenience of e-mail making it the easiest way to communicate, it has become imperative that one know how to compose a proper e-mail depending on audience and intent. Unfortunately, year after year, an increasing number of students are graduating high-school, and college not knowing how to compose a formal e-mail.
To top it all off, and to my horror, I discovered recently that dictionaries across the board are adding social media shorthand to their pages/databases. Whether this is an attempt to familiarize the masses with the new vernacular or simply cut down on the number of squiggly red lines under electronic text is a mystery to me; but, I wonder how this will affect the youth. I fear, will their vocabulary dwindle down to a messy concoction of three or four-letter alphabet soup with some basic terms and conjunctions thrown in the mix? If that is so, what is to be said then, for the future of the English language?
I do not doubt that the aforementioned laziness comes from the advent of word processors that made spell-check and correct grammar a no-brainer. By the same token, it comes as no surprise that the new age of technology has only made this negligence worse. With the exception, perhaps, of scholars and writers, chances are the common man is no longer stopping to consider his words.
Sadly, the problem that began with the word processors seems irreparable in this age of social media and text messaging. Every text box on the web has auto spell correct, and text messaging has sprouted the emergence of unthinkable shorthand for an astounding number of words; many of which seem like gibberish to the inexperienced eye. Lets not forget twitter. The 'say what you need in 140 characters or less' phenomenon has made such shorthand a new vernacular all its own.
The ease of writing that comes with such applications seems to have made us all, to an extent, inept not only when it comes to basic language skills, but also propriety in correspondence, through the web, or otherwise. Over the years, with the convenience of e-mail making it the easiest way to communicate, it has become imperative that one know how to compose a proper e-mail depending on audience and intent. Unfortunately, year after year, an increasing number of students are graduating high-school, and college not knowing how to compose a formal e-mail.
To top it all off, and to my horror, I discovered recently that dictionaries across the board are adding social media shorthand to their pages/databases. Whether this is an attempt to familiarize the masses with the new vernacular or simply cut down on the number of squiggly red lines under electronic text is a mystery to me; but, I wonder how this will affect the youth. I fear, will their vocabulary dwindle down to a messy concoction of three or four-letter alphabet soup with some basic terms and conjunctions thrown in the mix? If that is so, what is to be said then, for the future of the English language?
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I'm no writer and do not have a Ph.D. in English; nor do I pretend to. I do however, get frustrated at the thought of having to commit a grammatical crime in trying to fit my tweets into 140 characters (not to say I haven't had to do it every now and then); and I DO go around Facebook wishing I could correct my friends' posts when they make spelling or grammatical mistakes. Being as I am, this whole incidence troubled me, to say the least. I can't help but wonder what will become of the world if any and all text-lingo is added to the dictionary. I cringe at the thought, and for now, pray to the grammar gods to delay this seeming inevitability as much as possible.
I'm no writer and do not have a Ph.D. in English; nor do I pretend to. I do however, get frustrated at the thought of having to commit a grammatical crime in trying to fit my tweets into 140 characters (not to say I haven't had to do it every now and then); and I DO go around Facebook wishing I could correct my friends' posts when they make spelling or grammatical mistakes. Being as I am, this whole incidence troubled me, to say the least. I can't help but wonder what will become of the world if any and all text-lingo is added to the dictionary. I cringe at the thought, and for now, pray to the grammar gods to delay this seeming inevitability as much as possible.
