Hunh? ‘Sup?
Dude! Duuuuuuuudddddddee! Nice!
‘Cuz. It seems that our English
language is shrinking! Listen to a group
of high school students have a conversation and they have evolved with the
ability to communicate in one-word sentences.
Throw in a little inflection and they can change the context. Toss in a little emotion and they can change
the intent of their message. Of course,
that is if you can actually be so lucky to hear them talk rather than just
communicate with their thumbs across the table from one another with their
portable electronic devise in hand! In
reality, it is not just the kids today.
Our English language has changed a lot over the years, and part of me
questions whether that is a good thing, but more important, are we just more
efficient in regard to expressing ourselves? Or, are we not as smart?
A few years ago I watched the
movie remake of True Grit. I am a huge western buff and love the
genre. What has struck me about westerns
in recent years is the attention that the directors and producers pay to
detail, making certain to make it as realistic as possible. In True
Grit one of the things that stood out to me was the language and how
“fancy” the characters spoke using words and phrasing more like I read in
Shakespeare than what I hear spoken today.
And then it struck me: the characters in the movie were for the most
part uneducated individuals, or had a lot less formal education than we have
today. For example, take a look at this
statement by 14-year old Mattie Ross, one of the main characters:
I had hated these ponies for the part they
played in my father's death but now I realized the notion was fanciful, that it
was wrong to charge blame to these pretty beasts who knew neither good nor evil
but only innocence. I say that of these ponies. I have known some
horses and a good many more pigs who I believe harbored evil intent in their
hearts. I will go further and say all cats are wicked, though often
useful. Who has not seen Satan in their sly faces? Some preachers
will say, well, that is superstitious
'claptrap.' My answer is this : Preacher, go to you Bible and read Luke 8: 26-33.
At another point in the movie, another character answers a
question posed by young Mattie about possible individuals that she may contact
to help her find her father’s killers:
I would have to weigh that proposition. There is near
about two hundred of them. I reckon William Waters is the best tracker. The
meanest one is Rooster Cogburn. He is a pitiless man, double-tough, and fear
don’t enter into his thinking. He loves to pull a cork. Now LT Quinn, he brings
his prisoners in alive. He may let one get by now and then but he believes even
the worst of men is entitled to a fair shake. Also the court does not pay any
fees for dead men. Quinn is a good peace officer and a lay preacher to boot. He
will not plant evidence or abuse a prisoner. He is straight as a string. Yes, I
will say that Quinn is about the best they have.
Highbrow educators will say that we have “dumbed down” the
English language, and when you sit and listen to teenagers talk sometimes, it
is hard to argue with that. Knowledge of
vocabulary among school age kids is not near what it was, which is troubling
because words give meaning to our culture, our civilization. How can we have a learned society if we do
not know the meaning of language? But
then you look at the fact that we have streamlined every aspect of society that
we can with fast food and Quick Lube, why shouldn’t we streamline our
language? Skilled “texters” do not even
spell out the entire work, using “how r u” rather than taking the additional
two seconds to write “How are you?”
I didn’t need a dictionary to understand the conversations
when I watched True Grit, though I
did have to listen very close so that I didn’t miss what was said. However, I am not sure that is the case for
younger generations. Is that a bad
thing? Well, when so much of our history
is passed down through written and spoken language, I think it is.
