Dumbing down of our language

captain clutterbuck

captain clutterbuck

LOTSW Fanatic
As uttered by the infamous Victor Meldrew "I don't believe it" . What chance do our children have when Collins Dictionary have published their words of the year yet at least three of the top contenders are two words joined to make a phrase . Fake News , Corbyn Mania and Cuffing Season[ Autumn/Winter seasons when single people look for a steady relationship] . Another is an old word Unicorn which has now been given a different definition [ a new company that is valued at a billion dollars]

The dictionary company's credentials and integrity should surely be questioned they are fundamentally wrong at any level . Steptoe and Son would have use for their tome in their outside convenience and given the thickness of the book it would last a considerable time ! Despair [ Collins note that is one word and should be in the shortlist] :mad:
 
I'm with you Captain, some of our learning was drilled into us and its hard to see what idle use of words will lead to! It goes with using wrong phrases and text speak on the television. My old English language masters must be turning in their graves !! :confused::02:
 
Not to mention the fact that the Millennials prefer to text than talk on their mobiles (cell phones) which, of course, means that they use abbreviated language. Over here across the Pond, the Millennials are also subjected to standardized testing causing the teachers to teach to the test which means that the classes are automatically dumbed down. Shakespeare and Chaucer are probably turning in their graves.
 
I have to live a different angle on it. I'm a bilingual music teacher in the Spanish barrios of Tucson's impoverished South Side, Arizona, USA, near the border with Mexico. I deal with language issues as well and have seen terrific "dumbing down," especially "How much" being used where "How many" is the correct wording. However, far more of what I deal with is people trying to learn English as a second language, a-la "Mind Your Language" type situations. I think the funniest and most understandably unfortunate situations was when one of the 4th graders who was only beginning to learn English referred to someone holding hands as "having sex." :29:
 
I know I opened this up with the those Collins phrases of the year but I am going to indulge myself further with one more pet hate and its the "ME" phrase for example " Me and Judy went the pictures" . When I went to school we had it drummed to us that it without question should be " Judy and I went to the pictures " in the example . In essence it just makes me cringe when I hear these so called celebrities and journalists use that phrase in the reverse manner to what it grammatically should be.
 
dick said:
I'm with you Captain, some of our learning was drilled into us and its hard to see what idle use of words will lead to! It goes with using wrong phrases and text speak on the television. My old English language masters must be turning in their graves !! :confused::02:
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Absolutely. Good language is slowly disappearing into a miry pot of slang, and nouns turned into verbs and other such oterh abominations.

I recall once being taken to task when I had inadvertently used a split infinitive in a report and was roundly censured by the chief administrator - about 35 years ago. He would be horrified at the standard of English used in some government agencies now.

And these days how many people know what a split infinitive is or even care?
 
barmpot said:
Absolutely. Good language is slowly disappearing into a miry pot of slang, and nouns turned into verbs and other such oterh abominations.

I recall once being taken to task when I had inadvertently used a split infinitive in a report and was roundly censured by the chief administrator - about 35 years ago. He would be horrified at the standard of English used in some government agencies now.

And these days how many people know what a split infinitive is or even care?
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I had to look it up. Here's a good article on the subject: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/split-infinitives
 
barmpot said:
Absolutely. Good language is slowly disappearing into a miry pot of slang, and nouns turned into verbs and other such oterh abominations.

I recall once being taken to task when I had inadvertently used a split infinitive in a report and was roundly censured by the chief administrator - about 35 years ago. He would be horrified at the standard of English used in some government agencies now.

And these days how many people know what a split infinitive is or even care?
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It is rumored that in Latin, to split an infinitive was a really terrible thing to do. So many teachers carried that language stricture over to English where it may or may not be a point of censure.
 
In Latin "Hodie verba mea sicut deficient" which sums up my reaction to the way people , particularly so called Celebrities and Journalists , handle our language and their inability to grasp even the simplest grammatical structuring . In English " Today, words fail me !"
 
and7barton said:
Well, in Punjabi, I'd say - "Aja, śabada mainū asaphala karadē hana !"
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I think I would just quietly shake my head and sigh gently - not worth getting too stressed about it. Language is a fluid medium but it is moving far too fast for me to even understand most of it - especially with my hearing!
 
barmpot said:
I think I would just quietly shake my head and sigh gently - not worth getting too stressed about it. Language is a fluid medium but it is moving far too fast for me to even understand most of it - especially with my hearing!
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Precisely - Language is fluid and constantly evolving. The way people spoke 50 years ago is very different from today, and fifty years before that, it was very different too...... Someone from the time of Charles Dickens would still be comprehendible to us, but we'd find their style of speaking rather odd....... go back a further hundred years and we'd have trouble making sense of much of their speech. My point is, people have probably always moaned about the way their language has changed.
 
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