I have the immense and enviable privilege of owning articulate, intellectually sharp, computer-savvy, and culturally engaged parents. The more testosterone-ishly inclined of the pair in particular has--and shares, at the least provocation--vigorously defended views on issues of language and meaning. As a result of my "ceding the linguistic nation" posting of yesterday, he responded, "No, no, no - don't give up the fight or all will be lost. Not only is our language being lost through carelessness and laziness, but the world of email and text-messaging is contributing to the scourge with the advancing plague of initials and acronyms."
I thought his comments (above) and my response (below) qualify as fodder worthy of my PFIFB readership, bless all yer little heads. My returning comments to Wordsmith Pater:
Yes, linguistic purity (not to mention spelling convention) may be in jeopardy due to the increased use of initials- and acronyms-disguised-as-words. The medium itself is in large part responsible for, and I'm sure even encourages, the speed, immediacy, and accessibility-by-all-riff-raff who care to participate, not to mention the inconsequential nature of the messages themselves. (Dad, you'll enjoy this next bit.) How much of what navigates the ethernet--in email, Twitter, Facebook, and blogs without number--have the conversational equivalence of: "J'eat jet?" "No, dj'yew?" An old joke about an ancient medium (speech) but one that translates quite nicely into our current realities, me thinks. A big part of Life As It Has Been Known is composed of inanities of this ilk. We are a race of superficial linguistic linkages: "Hi there!' "How are you?" "Fine!"
Ring a bell?
One more comment, and then I'm done and heading to actual food on a plate (as opposed to pleasing yet empty calories in a nicely shaped glass). Without email, facebook (at least with my kids), blogs and/or text-messaging, would you and I even be having this conversation? And given how busy I am (always) and how ill you have been (lately), this conversation is pretty darned precious to me.
And dj'yew know what I'll get parental grief for, in all of the above? The word "owning."
HA!!! :) I do so.
Love youse, Ma-MEE and WP
kl
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