OK - here goes. I will declare my hand immediately: this is going to be an unrestrained rant about the growing misuse of the English language, especially in forums such as this. So if you are bored by this subject, or simply don't care, tune out now (if this is the case, I'm sorry, you are probably beyond help anyway). If, on the other hand, you are part of the minority who do give a damn about the future of our language (and so much more because of it) read on.It all began with mobile phones and the SMS, or texting. Thus began a discourse where the acronym ruled. Indeed, some of these even went from the vernacular to the mainstream and even to the dictionary. The language of the text soon extended its hegemony to the email, then the blog, and now all manner of social networking platforms (personally I always think of 'twit' when I hear the word 'tweet').
So what's wrong with that?, I hear you ask. All just harmless stuff, you may say - just kids these days talking in their own language. Well I have at least a couple of problems. Firstly, any discourse which ends up excluding those who are outside the loop (intentionally or otherwise)cannot be a good thing.
For example, step back for a moment and think about advocacy for plain English - it's the same argument. Think of a profession, field or discipline you have had to deal with where much of the language is far too technical, or even unknown to you. It's not much fun, is it? Nor is it fair or inclusive. Even less so when the self-appointed gatekeepers of this (mostly) intellectual wasteland deride you for not knowing the lingo.
My second big gripe with this practice of dumbing down language to acronymic shorthand is that it is just plain lazy and stupid. I happen to like and enjoy good language, whether it be a great speech, a polished piece of prose or a conversation with an articulate person - why should this be different in an online environment? As in the 'real' world, shouldn't we be encouraging literacy skills, instead of dumbing things down to the lowest common denominator?
But it goes much, much further. There is the matter of homogenising our language, and thus our culture—where are we without linguistic and consequently cultural diversity? This is the dark side of globalisation. Sure, there is cultural exchange, but it is very often one-sided, and comes with a price. It used to be Coca Cola, then McDonalds, and now it is (even more insidiously) Microsoft, Google, Facebook...the list keeps growing as the stakes get higher.
And don't even get me started on the dumbing down of political rhetoric - I'll save that for another day.
Oh, and if you (like me) were wondering what the word ‘derp’ means, well it’s actually difficult to pin down any kind of definitive meaning (it seems that cool kids can’t agree on this). But I believe that ‘retard’ is the most oft used definition—hardly Shakespeare, is it?
But it goes much, much further. There is the matter of homogenising our language, and thus our culture—where are we without linguistic and consequently cultural diversity? This is the dark side of globalisation. Sure, there is cultural exchange, but it is very often one-sided, and comes with a price. It used to be Coca Cola, then McDonalds, and now it is (even more insidiously) Microsoft, Google, Facebook...the list keeps growing as the stakes get higher.
And don't even get me started on the dumbing down of political rhetoric - I'll save that for another day.
Oh, and if you (like me) were wondering what the word ‘derp’ means, well it’s actually difficult to pin down any kind of definitive meaning (it seems that cool kids can’t agree on this). But I believe that ‘retard’ is the most oft used definition—hardly Shakespeare, is it?
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