Do you believe I got this email from one of my STUDENTS?
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 11,594
Likes: 7
From: Bumpass, VA
Shall I make a social observation? Consider this:
Here bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunterbury
Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open eye-
(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially from every shires ende
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for the seke
That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.
Ahhh...blessed Geoffrey Chaucer
. He's a bit of a booger to read, huh? And yet, he lived between 1342 and 1400AD. Quite a bit closer to our own "Modern English" written language. Why do we, in this day of "Modern English" and in deference to "Old English" (and its even older period of c600-1100 AD), believe that we could not be witnessing an evolution of our own English language? Sure, this alteration of words and phrases such as "you're" (to ur) and "great" (to gr8)...heck...even smilies may well make it into our "Ultra-Modern English" 
...but the fact might well remain that e-mail, chat, blackberry, cell phones, you name it...our digital age in tandem with our hectic schedules is evolving our English language. These shifts in words are phonetic evolutions. We may not like them...but why should we condemn them (except that we despise them 
).
Today, kids balk at the stuffy adults and say, "Nahhh...I just type that way cuz its quick. I d/won't type that way for 'real' projects, homework, etc."
...Sorry folks...but they will type that way. And before you know it, "words" like ur will show up in our dictionaries as slang...the same way we currently find words such as ain't. And with enough acceptance and use...it will become "real" and we will see such words in projects, homework, etc.
So...look again with a tilt of the head towards Chaucer
I had a gr8 da @ the bech w/ u 2da
.
...and will a future society some 600 years from now look at our currently "Modern English" language, from a perspective so advanced and foreign to us today, that they would scoff and their children will writhe in agony as they attempt to read something so bizzare as, "I had a great day at the beach with you today"
Think about it!
- Dave
Here bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunterbury
Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open eye-
(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially from every shires ende
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for the seke
That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.
Ahhh...blessed Geoffrey Chaucer
. He's a bit of a booger to read, huh? And yet, he lived between 1342 and 1400AD. Quite a bit closer to our own "Modern English" written language. Why do we, in this day of "Modern English" and in deference to "Old English" (and its even older period of c600-1100 AD), believe that we could not be witnessing an evolution of our own English language? Sure, this alteration of words and phrases such as "you're" (to ur) and "great" (to gr8)...heck...even smilies may well make it into our "Ultra-Modern English" ...but the fact might well remain that e-mail, chat, blackberry, cell phones, you name it...our digital age in tandem with our hectic schedules is evolving our English language. These shifts in words are phonetic evolutions. We may not like them...but why should we condemn them (except that we despise them ).Today, kids balk at the stuffy adults and say, "Nahhh...I just type that way cuz its quick. I d/won't type that way for 'real' projects, homework, etc."
...Sorry folks...but they will type that way. And before you know it, "words" like ur will show up in our dictionaries as slang...the same way we currently find words such as ain't. And with enough acceptance and use...it will become "real" and we will see such words in projects, homework, etc.So...look again with a tilt of the head towards Chaucer
I had a gr8 da @ the bech w/ u 2da
....and will a future society some 600 years from now look at our currently "Modern English" language, from a perspective so advanced and foreign to us today, that they would scoff and their children will writhe in agony as they attempt to read something so bizzare as, "I had a great day at the beach with you today"
Think about it! - Dave
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 890
Likes: 0
From: San Diego
*shudders*
I am a teenager, and I abhor the use of contractions and such; ie, ur=your, u-you, ic=I see, y=why, jus=just, cuz=because, etc. Whenever anyone uses those types of "words" in conversations online through AIM, or in an Email, I make sure to respond in such a way as to make them feel stupid for doing so. It makes the speaker/writer sound uneducated and low. that's not to say that I speak the Queen's perfect english, but I don't debase it like they do, either. I don't think this is the start of a metamorphosis of the language itself, though that is an interesting concept. it would certainly be interesting to see where this goes in the years to come.
Quick2k
I am a teenager, and I abhor the use of contractions and such; ie, ur=your, u-you, ic=I see, y=why, jus=just, cuz=because, etc. Whenever anyone uses those types of "words" in conversations online through AIM, or in an Email, I make sure to respond in such a way as to make them feel stupid for doing so. It makes the speaker/writer sound uneducated and low. that's not to say that I speak the Queen's perfect english, but I don't debase it like they do, either. I don't think this is the start of a metamorphosis of the language itself, though that is an interesting concept. it would certainly be interesting to see where this goes in the years to come.
Quick2k
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 660
Likes: 0
From: Yup GA
I'll support the original post with some added insight...
1. Frequency of communication must be considered.. If myself and another party e-communicate on a frequent basis, this will eventually and/or naturally lend to a more casual tone. Casual tone in an e-mail would justify the use of abbreviations, acronyms, etc..
2. There is a time and place for everything, rationally speaking.
1. Frequency of communication must be considered.. If myself and another party e-communicate on a frequent basis, this will eventually and/or naturally lend to a more casual tone. Casual tone in an e-mail would justify the use of abbreviations, acronyms, etc..
2. There is a time and place for everything, rationally speaking.
