The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > The English language in decline? > Comments

The English language in decline? : Comments

By Jocelynne Scutt, published 14/12/2012

A guide to contemporary horrors of the vernacular

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. All
I find the only way to cope with 'to be honest' is to thank the utterer for taking the trouble to point out when they are not lying....
Posted by Candide, Friday, 14 December 2012 8:54:36 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Apparently, 78% of sentences that begin with the word 'apparently' include statistics that are pulled out of thin air by the author. Apparently, this invention also extends to non-statistical claims.

Don't get me started on the disambiguation of less and fewer.

However, the real test as to whether the English language is in decline, Jocelynne, will be measured by the infiltration of cyber slang into non-cyber-based communication.

Props to you, but. NEways, though I've never been told to FOAD off of a txt your article's got me all FINE.

BCNU.
Posted by WmTrevor, Friday, 14 December 2012 8:59:50 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Jocelynne,

For goodness sake, your examples of requests for personal details are all examples of identity theft frauds, mostly operated out of Eastern Europe, Nigeria and Asia. Why would you expect foreigners to be grammatically correct?

Oh, I forgot, their standards of English are way ahead of ours anyway, we are only 27th. Look over there, another Unicorn!

Thanks Teacher, not.
Posted by spindoc, Friday, 14 December 2012 9:10:09 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I blame television and Hollywood for the decline in the proper use of the rich English language.

In the popular media, words with more than four letters are eschewed and expressions like, 'shoot'im', 'let's go', 'aahh', 'stick'em up', 'ooooohhhh Bret', 'do the job', 'yeah, I dig', 'gimme'a shot', 'you turn me on', etc, abound.

Text-ing also favours the use of short words. Perhaps, eventually, this trend will lead us back to 'grunting' again!
Posted by David G, Friday, 14 December 2012 9:18:12 AM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Better watch out, Jocelynne, for those posts that threaten to disable your account unless you disclose information. They're usually scams. Their misuse of English and deployment of commercial cliches is deliberate, for verisimilitude.
Posted by ASPIRIN, Friday, 14 December 2012 9:43:57 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
My god what a rant.

I recommend 'Death Sentences: How Cliches, Weasel Words and Management-Speak Are Strangling Public Language'

Being a Lawyer you would do well to give that a read, it's a much more pertinent problem. Have you read some of the gobbledygook lawyers come up with?

BTW, 'Ostray-ya'? Na! It's a silent O. Straya. You really need to leave that ivory tower more often.
Posted by Houellebecq, Friday, 14 December 2012 10:28:20 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy