Sept. 21: How the Internet and social media are destroying the English language
I make my living as an editor,
which means I am allowed to be a grammar snob. I throw a fit when
someone uses 'then' when they mean 'than' or 'they're' when they mean
'there.' And don't get me started on the improper use of it's.
Yes, I am an editor. I get jazzed when I see a well-crafted paragraph and I am eternally grateful to anyone who points out my mistakes - be them spelling, grammar, or punctuation (you'll notice that I love the Oxford comma.)
But if you were to ask me if I think the Internet and/or social media are destroying the English language, I'd have to respond with "not really."
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When I am writing a newspaper article or a story or even one of these daily notes, I pay attention to my spelling and grammar.
When I'm sending someone a text message or an email, I don't. The reason is that I'm not crafting something to be consumed and, hopefully, enjoyed by hundreds of readers. What I'm doing is telling Uncle John what time I'll be home for dinner or I'm asking cousin Hilary if she wants bacon on her pizza. When I write such missives, I don't care if I use U for you or 2 for to or cya for goodbye.
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And yet...
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This June, Time Magazine ran an article decrying the death of cursive writing. It starts with a story about a mother complaining that son, a junior in high school, cannot read his teacher's cursive writing. I guess something has happened in our nation's classrooms - the keyboard has replaced the pen as the primary means of written communication.
I'm old enough to remember desks with inkwell holes in them. I never needed a fountain pen in class but I knew what those holes were for. In Grade 3, we exhaustively practiced our upper-and-lower case L's and M's and Q's until we felt like our arms would fall off. As a reporter, I'd be lost without my ability to write quickly. You think I want to lug a tape recorder and/or laptop with me wherever I go? Perish the thought.
Technology might make our lives easier, but it also makes us lazy.
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You think the Internet and social media are destroying the English language? Really? The Internet is a Johnny Come Lately when it comes to a growing disinterest in well-crafted prose.
The late American novelist Kurt Vonnegut recalls an era when reading was the most popular form of entertainment. A man would come home from work, pick up a magazine, and read a story. For about 20 minutes, he would relax and settle into the world of the story and all was right with his world.
And then came the television. Suddenly, the TV was the most popular way to spend one's leisure time. Then TV started offering more channels, then there were dozens of channels, then there were hundreds of them. Then there was the Internet with millions, nay billions, of websites that a person could visit. Then there was streaming movies and iTunes and Facebook.
Suddenly, that bookshelf in the basement was feeling very lonely.
-
Listen:
Everyone thinks Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 is about censorship. It's not. It's about television. That makes sense, actually. In the book, everyone has a TV set in their house. If the government merely wanted to stifle free thought then the printed page would surely be just as villainous as the television show.
Fahrenheit 451 was published in 1953, when television was in its infancy. Mr. Bradbury must have despised it. He viewed it as the pinnacle of anti-intellectualism - an idiotic squawking box that spoon-fed inanity into the minds of children. Books didn't do that, couldn't do that. Books required imagination. All television required was laziness.
In Bradbury's dystopian world, the government burns books while promoting television. I suppose the government regulates the airwaves, making the country a giant complacent experiment in groupthink.
-
I heard a kid the other day tell me how much they hate reading.
I feel sorry for that kid.
Yes, I am an editor. I get jazzed when I see a well-crafted paragraph and I am eternally grateful to anyone who points out my mistakes - be them spelling, grammar, or punctuation (you'll notice that I love the Oxford comma.)
But if you were to ask me if I think the Internet and/or social media are destroying the English language, I'd have to respond with "not really."
-
When I am writing a newspaper article or a story or even one of these daily notes, I pay attention to my spelling and grammar.
When I'm sending someone a text message or an email, I don't. The reason is that I'm not crafting something to be consumed and, hopefully, enjoyed by hundreds of readers. What I'm doing is telling Uncle John what time I'll be home for dinner or I'm asking cousin Hilary if she wants bacon on her pizza. When I write such missives, I don't care if I use U for you or 2 for to or cya for goodbye.
-
And yet...
-
This June, Time Magazine ran an article decrying the death of cursive writing. It starts with a story about a mother complaining that son, a junior in high school, cannot read his teacher's cursive writing. I guess something has happened in our nation's classrooms - the keyboard has replaced the pen as the primary means of written communication.
I'm old enough to remember desks with inkwell holes in them. I never needed a fountain pen in class but I knew what those holes were for. In Grade 3, we exhaustively practiced our upper-and-lower case L's and M's and Q's until we felt like our arms would fall off. As a reporter, I'd be lost without my ability to write quickly. You think I want to lug a tape recorder and/or laptop with me wherever I go? Perish the thought.
Technology might make our lives easier, but it also makes us lazy.
-
You think the Internet and social media are destroying the English language? Really? The Internet is a Johnny Come Lately when it comes to a growing disinterest in well-crafted prose.
The late American novelist Kurt Vonnegut recalls an era when reading was the most popular form of entertainment. A man would come home from work, pick up a magazine, and read a story. For about 20 minutes, he would relax and settle into the world of the story and all was right with his world.
And then came the television. Suddenly, the TV was the most popular way to spend one's leisure time. Then TV started offering more channels, then there were dozens of channels, then there were hundreds of them. Then there was the Internet with millions, nay billions, of websites that a person could visit. Then there was streaming movies and iTunes and Facebook.
Suddenly, that bookshelf in the basement was feeling very lonely.
-
Listen:
Everyone thinks Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 is about censorship. It's not. It's about television. That makes sense, actually. In the book, everyone has a TV set in their house. If the government merely wanted to stifle free thought then the printed page would surely be just as villainous as the television show.
Fahrenheit 451 was published in 1953, when television was in its infancy. Mr. Bradbury must have despised it. He viewed it as the pinnacle of anti-intellectualism - an idiotic squawking box that spoon-fed inanity into the minds of children. Books didn't do that, couldn't do that. Books required imagination. All television required was laziness.
In Bradbury's dystopian world, the government burns books while promoting television. I suppose the government regulates the airwaves, making the country a giant complacent experiment in groupthink.
-
I heard a kid the other day tell me how much they hate reading.
I feel sorry for that kid.
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