Comments on: Teenager’s Needed 4 Grammer Lessons http://www.wolfpackpress.org/news/teenagers-needed-4-grammer-lessons/ Park High School Newspaper Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:45:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Thomas Briggs http://www.wolfpackpress.org/news/teenagers-needed-4-grammer-lessons/comment-page-1/#comment-186 Thomas Briggs Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:36:29 +0000 http://www.wolfpackpress.org/?p=947#comment-186 Ironically, the dialect we use here in the twin cities has been rated as being the second most grammatically correct form of Spoken English in the world (Johannesburg, South Africa is the first). Due to the universality of the internet and television in recent years, people have begun to depend on electronic sources in addition to locale exposure to learn their language. Unfortunately, with one of the most popular television stations being MTV and similar stations, our generation has begun to develop a more degenerate form of the English language based around incomplete words, slurred pronunciation and basing most of our sentences around curses, sexual remarks, and aggressive statements. Another development in our modern language is the use of cell phones and texting. Due to the way cell phone companies have historically charged their customers, things had to be stated in a quick, shortened fashion. When text messaging first became popular, you had to get your point across in less than fifty characters. [Between these brackets is more than fifty characters] This led to shortening words into as simple of a manner as possible. Later on, as some people never really caught on to what the abbreviations meant, they were spoken phonetically, making them a part of everyday speech. Frankly I don't care if slang is used when spoken (I use slang myself), but when I see an essay with the words "Romeo iz da shizz pimp daddy fer Juliet" (no, I'm not kidding. that was actually in there) in an AP English class during peer editing, I lose my faith in humanity. Ironically, the dialect we use here in the twin cities has been rated as being the second most grammatically correct form of Spoken English in the world (Johannesburg, South Africa is the first). Due to the universality of the internet and television in recent years, people have begun to depend on electronic sources in addition to locale exposure to learn their language. Unfortunately, with one of the most popular television stations being MTV and similar stations, our generation has begun to develop a more degenerate form of the English language based around incomplete words, slurred pronunciation and basing most of our sentences around curses, sexual remarks, and aggressive statements. Another development in our modern language is the use of cell phones and texting. Due to the way cell phone companies have historically charged their customers, things had to be stated in a quick, shortened fashion. When text messaging first became popular, you had to get your point across in less than fifty characters. [Between these brackets is more than fifty characters] This led to shortening words into as simple of a manner as possible. Later on, as some people never really caught on to what the abbreviations meant, they were spoken phonetically, making them a part of everyday speech.
Frankly I don’t care if slang is used when spoken (I use slang myself), but when I see an essay with the words “Romeo iz da shizz pimp daddy fer Juliet” (no, I’m not kidding. that was actually in there) in an AP English class during peer editing, I lose my faith in humanity.

]]> By: Ted http://www.wolfpackpress.org/news/teenagers-needed-4-grammer-lessons/comment-page-1/#comment-162 Ted Sun, 04 Jan 2009 02:36:47 +0000 http://www.wolfpackpress.org/?p=947#comment-162 A culture's language is directly related to its reality. As the language grows the its picture of reality grows. Did you ever notice that learning something new, Economics for example, is really only developing an understanding for new words and phrases, and the concepts that lie behind them? When one develops an understanding of the concepts that lie behind economic terms and phrases one is then better able to formulate and share ideas about Economics. Language is a tremendously empowering tool. But this tool, like others, is subject to degradation, because of that, we must perform maintenance on a regular basis. We must not be lazy. We must avoid using abbreviations, we must always work on speaking and writing well, and we must consistently expand our vocabulary. In doing so, we will keep the greatest tool that we have in tip-top shape. If we are lazy and let our language degrade, our ability to formulate and share ideas will lessen, and our picture of reality will shrink. Our language will act as a tool of enslavement. A scary, and thankfully fictional, but good, portrayal of language as a tool for enslavement is George Orwell's "1984". Frannie, we are the creators of language. A culture’s language is directly related to its reality. As the language grows the its picture of reality grows.

Did you ever notice that learning something new, Economics for example, is really only developing an understanding for new words and phrases, and the concepts that lie behind them? When one develops an understanding of the concepts that lie behind economic terms and phrases one is then better able to formulate and share ideas about Economics.

Language is a tremendously empowering tool. But this tool, like others, is subject to degradation, because of that, we must perform maintenance on a regular basis. We must not be lazy. We must avoid using abbreviations, we must always work on speaking and writing well, and we must consistently expand our vocabulary. In doing so, we will keep the greatest tool that we have in tip-top shape. If we are lazy and let our language degrade, our ability to formulate and share ideas will lessen, and our picture of reality will shrink. Our language will act as a tool of enslavement. A scary, and thankfully fictional, but good, portrayal of language as a tool for enslavement is George Orwell’s “1984″.

Frannie, we are the creators of language.

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