The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is considered the most comprehensive, single-language dictionary in the world, so says the “Guinness Book of World Records.” However, in recent years the OED has added many words to its massive 750,000-word repertoire that has put its reputation to question. Among these new words are “selfie” and “twerk.” Yes, ladies and gentlemen, those words have been officially inducted into the English language. Is this a sign of the decline of the English language? Well, no. Not really. But with the advent of smartphones and social media sites, the English language continually takes a plunge as the years progress.
Improper punctuation and incorrect spelling has become a serious epidemic. Everywhere people go, they will see a misplaced apostrophe, a missing period, or (and probably the worst of all) someone using “your” instead of “you’re” and “there” instead of “they’re” or “their.” The sad fact is that no one takes the time to check his/her spelling and punctuation anymore. And it seems like teachers are not even bothering to teach proper grammar or the use of punctuation anymore. There have been instances where an English professor who wrote, “you’re welcome” on the board as “your welcome.”
Time and time again, people have resorted to using text speak (using abbreviations or shorten words rather than spelling everything out) to communicate through social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter. These people would post updates such as, “Im board. Sum1 talk 2 me.” The astute would usually respond with, “What kind of board are you? Are you cardboard? Chalkboard? Whiteboard? Surfboard?” That person would then respond with something like, “What are you talking about?” or “Stop being a grammar Nazi!” Many would argue that because it is online that one doesn’t need to spell out everything. But as mentioned above, it’s starting to get out of hand.
There have been articles, online and in print, from reputable news organizations that have clearly not been proofread, resulting in grammatical errors such as run-on sentences, missing punctuation, or the ever-so-common misused homophone. But how is this really a problem? Well, it shows that not only is the education system dwindling in its standards, but it also shows that society is quite content in living with this ignorance. Yes, it sounds a bit harsh, but when thought isn’t put into what you say or write, things as beautifully written as “Through the darkness I wade/Searching and striving/For that forgotten light” becomes “i m so depressed. i wish thngz were bttr.” Eloquent speech has become a fading memory in our everyday lives, and is being replaced with the constant use of “like” or “you know” after every other word.
If you sit down and listen to others speak you would hear something like, “OMG! Like, my roomie just, like, SnapChatted me her new dress! I’m, like, so jelly!” Drains the brain cells, doesn’t it? It gets worse with arguments as people are only slinging around profanities and obscene remarks about the actions they partook with the other’s mother the night before, and bringing up past mistakes that have no relation to the current argument, etc., etc., rather than making a sound argument that states how they feel in a mature manner.
Going back to the Oxford Dictionary, it is understandable that what it is doing is merely adapting to the changes in speech according to the new generation, and some may consider it as an evolution of the language. However there are those, many of whom, find this as a devolution to the English language; one that extends into the music industry, but that is a whole other article to get into. Just listen to the lyrics of today’s top hits and compare them to the top hits from a decade ago or farther back. Really no comparison, is there?
Words are powerful things. They can cut deeper than any knife, but they can also heal those same wounds. They contain magic beyond anyone’s imagination. Just look at all the beautiful stories people wrote over the centuries. The English language can be a beautiful thing, but only if its words are used correctly. But today’s society has taken a blatant disregard to those words and turned something as simple, yet powerful, as “I love you” to something so trivial and mundane as “i luv u.” Which would you want your special someone to text you?
