Is language being systematically verbicided?

The language of today is changing - company's verbicise regular words to fit their business ethos and to appeal to other stakeholder groups.

This, however, has now transcended into reguloar life with examples in media like Homer Simpson ("Beer me.") and is now filtering into normal life.

I realise that language adapts and is in constant flux but I do not like the way the language of today is becoming 'lazy'.

"As the business world continues trending toward verbification, it is dragging other parts of the world along with it. At my daughter's high school graduation, students received awards for keyboarding, a skill which has apparently obsoleted typing."

Is it just me who resents this change in how we communicate with each other? The language changes into a more flexible Orwellian double speak. Is this a necessary evil of today or is it 'doubleplus good'?

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[Edited on 23-2-2004 by Shaitan]

very, very true.

hence the reason writers today are held in a much lower regard than ever before. how often lately have you heard people buzzing about the book singing next week?

now there are times when direct, short and sweet (or not so sweet) language are called for. getting too eloquent and using elevated diction in certain situations makes one seem stpid, actually, because alot of people use "filler words" which really dont mean anything. someone will use 5 synonyms for the same word (making sure that none are less than 3 syllables long) in one sentence, and tink it makes them look smarter. when in all actuallity it just makes them look like they are trying too hard.

but come on people, beer me??? one of the most beautiful aspects of society is slowly slipping away. language. DICTION is everything, picking the RIGHT word once instead of 20 words that mean the same thing.

so next time its open mike night, theres entries goin on, or theres a chance to stand up and scream out to people in a toungue that has a little more shazaam than "beer me" ....DO IT!!!!!

especially open mike night, if you know ANYONE who does spoken word(cough cough...me...cough cough:lol, support em. they are some of our last hopes!

Party on.

It's all true, but it's the medias fault more than anything. They make a clever phrase like "nontroversy", and it's spread everywhere in minutes.

It's more of a collective conciousness than Orwellian thing IMO. Maybe those are the same things.

Originally posted by RANT
It's more of a collective conciousness than Orwellian thing IMO. Maybe those are the same things.

its more like its a bomb threat to the art of writing thats not for a crappy, already done, re-realeased movie, or for a dragged on, burned out TV Show

It's more of a collective conciousness than Orwellian thing IMO. Maybe those are the same things.

I agree that the 'collective' do change language to suit their own needs but I feel this is unnecessarily dumbing down our methods of communication.

Would you consider modern english vs. Shakespearian english a "dumbing down"? What about Chaucer?

Language is constantly in a state of flux. What you see as the "dumbing down" of english will be seen as normal by the next generation and what you consider normal will be considered archaic.

New words are of course always added to our vocabulary, but I feel that the proper grammatical structure is sorely lacking these days from most writers. Clever phrasing may create new words all the time, but what is more bothersome to me is the increasingly accepted use of incorrect, shortened spellings of common words.

"Your" becomes "ur" or "anyway" becomes "neway."

I fail to see how this is supposed to convey intelligent conversation. Writing actual phrases that have some semblance of proper grammar and spelling seems to be a lost art.

Originally posted by TheDemonHunter

"Your" becomes "ur" or "anyway" becomes "neway."

I fail to see how this is supposed to convey intelligent conversation. Writing actual phrases that have some semblance of proper grammar and spelling seems to be a lost art.

Well said TDH!!

My "pet hate" as regards a change to the language is "I could *of*..." for "I could *have*..." What's wrong with "have" for goodness sake?

Well said TDH!!

My "pet hate" as regards a change to the language is "I could *of*..." for "I could *have*..." What's wrong with "have" for goodness sake?

And this leads nicely on to one of my pet hates - the use of slang in texting on mobile phones. I have received messages that are barely decipherable due to the prolific uses of phrases like "b4ne1" and other such items.

Personally, I make a point of spelling everything correctly on any text message - even down to using the correct punctuation.

I think this trend does nothing to support the learning of English and actually harms the cognitive skills of young people routinely using this new language.

Using the word like as an adjective, that really gets my heckles up.

I would rather hear some bum that can barely spell his own name but has something to say over any Ivy leaguer with no insight.

And vice versa

Content counts.

Human lanquage is a living breathing thing. I am willing to deal with substance over clarity issues.

Now that we have about one hundred years of aural recordings behind us, people should give the past a listen. They would be amazed how much our speech and thought patterns have changed.

That being said "Beer Me!"

Originally posted by Facefirst
I would rather hear some bum that can barely spell his own name but has something to say over any Ivy leaguer with no insight.

And vice versa

Content counts.

Human lanquage is a living breathing thing. I am willing to deal with substance over clarity issues.

Now that we have about one hundred years of aural recordings behind us, people should give the past a listen. They would be amazed how much our speech and thought patterns have changed.

That being said "Beer Me!"

true, it is the actual point of what is being said, not all the silly flippant filler words being shoved into the crevices to make people sound smart.

but looking at writing as an art form, content is equal with diction.

its like dancing across a room. practically...you would walk, its direct and to the point. but as ana rt form, bust out those tutus people!