Language

This is the third time I've tries to start this post; of course the first two times I had different topics. The first one was "Addiction" but I'm not sure that I've actually thought that one through quite yet. The next one was media, but once you get past Marshall McLuhan's  "Medium is the message" there's not much else to say. I may yet revisit those topics, but I am going to leave them for now. 

Instead I came up with language. A happy compromise, I suppose. I've read a few books on language and seemed to me that there as at least a discussion there, anyway. Having a family with a background in education - english education, no less - certainly is one reason why this may be of interest to me - but there has been debate about language every since the tower of Babel. 

Language is an every changing beast that

 can never be specifically defined: Every day, language evolves. Like animals in the wild, as the circumstances of words change, so too will their meaning and usage. It is has been evolving rapidly, lately - ever since the internet got big. Internet itself is a newer word - it's only been in popular usage for the last 15 years. TV has only been around for 80. And as there are new words, there are new usages that are correct and then will pass out of favour for new words and usages. Words like "gay" have ch

anged in the past 50 years as well - what a word used to mean, it doesn't mean now. 

Look at Shakespeare, for example. He is largely credited with "inventing" over 1700 words. If one person can change the language that much, by himself, in the space of 30 years, why are we surprised that there are changes taking place in language now? And his changes in language are just as relevant as changes in language that resulted in the now archaic "Ebonics". How is "di'int" any different from "gnarled"? 

So when people talk about proper language and words for emails, voice mails, and texts, there is no proper language. Because it is an evolving thing, it is only after the fact that we can say what the correct usage is. In 24th century english class, we may well be telling students how to use "lol" in proper context. 

Language has a right way and a wrong way: Language does evolve, but over time - not over 5 years. The fact that words and usages come into and leave existence so quickly is an arguement that slang exists, not that language is evolving quickly.  Look back 5 years, and see how many words were popularly used that aren't now. How many people use "23 Skidoo" or "Daddy-o" now? All that the existence of new words and usages proves is that people will create their own language for their own subculture. It is only when, after many years of continued usage, can the language be considered changed. 

Look at the term "sucked". After 20 years or so of common usage, it's meaning has changed. When the term first entered the lexicon as a derogatory term, it was primarily referring to a sexual act and a distinct insult. Telling someone "You suck" was equivalent to telling some " You give blow jobs".   Now, the term means "You are underperforming"  - but it took a long time for that to be the accepted language. 

The computer age hasn't changed language, except for the addition of a few new nouns. Creating terms like "lol", "LMAO" and emoticons are simply around because the existing media does not allow for things like tone and inflection to be conveyed. When you have 170 characters in a text message, the meaning has to be made clear, and those things can make it so. THis is not an extension of the English language, but rather more equivalent to blueprints or legal language. It exists in the same framework as the English language but is separate. 

What I think: Language does evolve, and it can evolve quickly; it just doesn't, usually. Some aspects of legal language have entered into the popular lexicon; so have words from engineering, from other languages, from computers. The difficult is always determining what is just a fad word or usage and what is actually a change in language. Ultimately, though, the language itself does not change much; we need to have a common language to communicate, to express our ideas and have our ideas understood. 

How I relate: Well, I talk, write on a blog ( a new word, but not a new usage), and I work at a bank. When I used to work at McDonald's and we had new hires in, we were specifically reminded not to use "McLanguage" too much, because they wouldn't understand. "Cheese on four" would mean nothing to a person who didn't work there. Simply because there are new methods of communication does not automatically exclude prior forms of communication - and the fact that I am writing this on a Blog that nobody reads makes this no different that writing this in a diary. 

That's kind of a weak post, I think. It can be a interesting topic, but I didn't quite take it where I wanted to take it. I started out the post too far in the middle. I'll blame that on being tired. I've had a long couple of weeks - only had one day off. Work is going really really well; I still am surprised at how much I like it. It seems like I was was born to be around money. I'm planning a trip to Vegas; contingent on a few things, of course. Money and home stuff being the two most pressing.