TNB has always marveled at immigrants to the United States (generally excluding Canadians, Brits, Aussies, etc.) who must learn English as a second language. Our mother tongue contains so many idioms and homonyms (to, too, two or read/read for example) as well as words that are not pronounced phonetically (like colonel) that mastering English is almost an impossible task for foreign born people.
Sadly, mastering English as a first language is becoming much more difficult. The main culprit is the technology that has made daily life so much "easier". The widespread use of text and instant messaging, with its own peculiar shorthand, among today's youth is subverting grammar, spelling and overall literacy. How can we expect mastery of English when even 8 year olds communicate with "words" like LOL, RU, BTW and so on? Even The Normal Blogger has occasionally used these terms to be cute. It won't be so cute when someday soon Shakespeare's most famous passage is written "2B R NT 2B". It does save space!
Also subverting the English language is the belief among many otherwise intelligent people that anything they read on the Internet (written well or poorly--it doesn't matter) must be true. If Barack Obama loses the election, one main factor (like the swiftboating of John Kerry) will be the incessant lies about him spread over the Internet as if they were the gospel, which somehow many people have believed in for several millennia without benefit of E-Mail. He is not or was he ever a Muslim, was not planted by Al Qaeda and is not a terrorist despite what some anonymous liar has sent me electronically. The senders of such garbage are the real terrorists.
Unfortunately, there's not a lot to believe except of course The Normal Blog.
OMG, OMG (and oy vey).
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5 comments:
On a related note, the Sunday NYT had an article that asked whether reading on-line was the same (beneficial, challenging, etc.) as reading an old fashioned book or magazine. Whereas I agree with TNB that the English (and, I assume, other languages) language has taken a beating with e-communication, I think that the act of reading has benefited. With all of the different media available to consumers, there is not longer an excuse NOT to read the great books. I, for one, think that listening to a book or reading a book on-line (or on a Kindle) is just fine if the alternative is not to read at all.
Thanks for your erudite comment, but what is a Kindle?
I tend to agree that a shorthand form of reading is a fine alternative to the "no read.' It's just harder and harder to learn a new language. E-communication is another language.
Obama, is another issue. I don't know what to believe, expcept the normal blogger.
Click for info on the Kindle (Amazon's reading gizmo):
http://www.amazon.com
OMG! TNB doesn't know what a kindle is? Well, LOL anyway. Another great column. I'll read my news on e-mail, my kindle, or in a good old fashioned newspaper!
TTFN, gotta go text someone!
:)
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