Bugbear #2

My, my… It has been a long time, hasn’t it? I could blame work, I suppose… but I’m not going to. Fact is, I’m lazy at heart, and lose interest in things soon after the initial novelty has worn off. My girlfriend has already had to take over all my Nintendog duties, for example, for fear that Flo and CJ (our two puppies) might die of neglect and malnutrition.

I’m focusing on Animal Crossing: Wild World at the minute instead– a game so vast in scope and so detailed in its intricacies that I’ll save it for a separate posting… except to say that it might just be the most addictive, compelling and fascinating game ever conceived!

Onwards, however… and out of the world of video games (which harbour many of their own bugbears – not least the RPG, which never managed to float my boat). I want to talk to you today about the English language.

No, this isn’t going to be an essay, or a preachy tract. I simply want to make it known that I am worried. I fear for the future of the language that I have studied and the language that I love. In my applicant interview for my PGCE in English and Drama, I was asked what made me apply to be a teacher of English. My response was something along the lines of the following:

“I believe in the sanctity of the English language. I believe in the rules of grammar. I believe that language can be, and ought to be, more than a mere tool for communication. I look ahead, and I see a terrible future where language is less an art and more a communicative device – where it is stripped of its beauty and grace and replaced by a constantly devolving style of ‘text-speak’ - where letters and syllables come together, not in polished onomatopoeic union, but to form words that are torn apart and truncated in order to convey simple and uncomplicated meaning from one user to the next. I want to do nothing less than help to prevent the gradual demise of one of the most beautiful forms of communication and expression ever conceived.”

OK, so it was something along these lines… I could never hope to speak this way in an interview – who could?! And anyway, it was a long time ago…

The point is, I was then, and still am, deeply concerned about the way the language we use is gradually deteriorating. I’ve been browsing internet forums recently and marvelling at the way people – adult people – are writing! It’s not even a matter of bad grammar or spelling; these people are creating a whole new language of their own! Short, clipped words, acronyms galore, vowels discarded to increase typing speed. It's messy and uncontrolled, with no rules of use or syntax.

As a teacher, I found myself constantly marking work that read like expanded text messages. "Your" became "ur", "sorry" became "soz" and capitalisation became an antique grammatical contrivance from a bygone era.

Bored of this topic now, though... See what I mean? I just lose interest and wander away... It's like I always tell my mate, Dave...........