Whatever happened to English?

by Joanne Petty

These days, when everyone seems to have an iPhone or a BlackBerry, one can only wonder if this rise of ‘on-the-go’ messaging will dumb down the English language, leaving behind the importance of accurate spelling, grammar and punctuation.

The ancient Greeks had a theory and predicted that over time, language would decay, whereas Darwinians of the 19th century believed that language would improve and evolve over time. It could be argued that both are right.

Some would argue that ‘text message language’ slipping into every-day use, is an inevitable change. English has developed rapidly over the last 300 years and reading a 16th Century Shakespearean play is a perfect example, proving at times, to be archaic.

On the other hand, text abbreviations such as 'omg' (oh my god) and 'lol' (laughing out loud) are in one sense, actually expanding our vocabularies. Nobody had ever thought of a word for 'laughing out loud' before the use of the internet.

And even now, it has developed so much that the over usage of the word 'lol' is often a standing joke, with people often using it to lighten awkward pauses in conversations or as an ironic joke.

Bamboozle

However, many words have been lost over time, although we have gained some marvelous ones such as bamboozle, gibberish, and job. Since the time of Shakespeare, many new words have been added to our vocabularies. Back in the day the average person knew around 20,000 words but nowadays, people have an average vocabulary of around 50,000 words.

Words like 'tweeting', 'meh', 'lol' and 'blog', have all made a transition into our language, and while some of the older generation might snub these words and consider them a passing fad, they seem to be the words that are shaping modern English.

A phrase such as 'google it’ was unrecognisable 10 years ago, whereas now it is your average response to someone asking you a question that you don’t know how to answer.

So is English decaying or evolving? Though some of the new words can be seen as unrefined, it is undoubtedly a good thing that these words get us all communicating and expressing ourselves more freely.

With that in mind, everyone should embrace the internet and ‘google it’ or use ‘lol’ to get out of an awkward social moment. Who knows, you may in the process, invent a few new words to bamboozle others.