a reply to:
kaylaluv
Haha! Fantastic!
The language we use is, I feel, very important to not only maintaining good standards of communication between people on the mundanities of life, but
also our own ability to express who we are, what we are thinking. One often finds that people who have a grasp of language which suffers from certain
sparsities, can also find themselves having trouble with communication, and it ought to come as no surprise.
It is increasingly tempting, for some people to take up the newer, less precise manner of speech and written communication, made popular by various
media creations, and by the rise of the mobile telephone. People talking in text speak, is just one example.
However, coming out with the words "Smiley face!", when one is happy, does not communicate anything much at all, certainly not when what one really
means is "I am overcome by waves, paroxysms of joy, consumed with merriment and exuberance!". The number of social conventions being assaulted by
the degradation of the use of language these days, is vast. If I may, two examples follow.
1) Communication with Government:
We received a letter from our local council today, on a matter pertaining to our business. I will not go into any details, because that would be
improper, but I can tell you that the letter appeared to have been formulated by either a very intelligent ape, or a totally moronic thirteen year
old. The grammar was broken, the spelling awful, and the total effect was that it was one of the most imprecise documents, that I have ever had the
pleasure of laughing at, other than a particularly obscure Chinese to English translation, by way of Thailand, which came in a box containing an
electrical item some years ago.
However, this being a communication from government requesting certain paperwork and details from us, meant that we were also quite concerned,
because when an official of the government proves that they cannot write worth a damn, it also suggests that they might have trouble interpreting the
data you send to them. This would not be so bad in a communication between ones self, and ones friend or relative, but one has to trust that the
people receiving ones sensitive data, can be trusted with it, and understand it enough that they do not begin some sort of legal action having misread
it entirely!
2) Affairs of The Heart:
I was in a bar a few weeks back, and was shocked at the shoddy state of courtship ritual, and the lack of artistry necessary for some people to
decide to engage in a relationship, however brief and probably unfulfilling. A fellow five feet from me, turned to this young woman he was standing
next to, and announced "I'm pissin' off home innit. I reckon you're well fit though, so you comin'?"
And by Christ, off she went with the knuckle dragging halfwit!
Now, I am not a one for one night stands, but surely something a little poetic, or at least having meaning beyond "please allow me to fulfil a
biological imperative, probably in an unsatisfactory, and potentially unpleasant manner, with your no doubt capable assistance", would have been
nice. That must, after all, have been what he had been getting at!
Suns no longer rise and fall in the eyes of lovers. Those who gaze fondly across a room at their lover, no longer refer to the way the moon pulls the
ocean toward it, as surely as their lovers beauty draws the eye. The effort is just not there, and for all that some such phrases are considered
cheese, there is more love in the saying, and the thinking of them, than can ever be expressed with a two syllable limitation on SENTENCE LENGTH!
That being said...