Do we need to protect our precious English language against the dangers of new technologies and the new lingo that comes with it?

As someone who uses technology on a regular basis I have come across a lot of new language whether it be from social media like Instagram and Twitter or in a chat service such as Discord - some I understood immediately and some I had to ask a friend or search for online. I think a lot of people who don't expose themselves to technology enough have a biased opinion against it and believe it harms the English language. I disagree and believe to a certain extent, that it can enhance it...


All new phrases formed by technology were created for a practical purpose - no new word is made for no apparent reason. Acronyms commonly found in the language of texting such as 'tbh' (for 'to be honest') and 'lol' (for 'laugh out loud') were created as a means of compensating for the lack of character space in a single text. Phrases used in game chats such as 'dps' (meaning 'damage per second') are used by gamers as a way of quickly calling something out so they don't have to type a lot mid-game. As shown by these examples all new forms of language have a purpose.


Some people seem to have the idea that these new unofficial phrases seem to be damaging to the younger generation and the language they speak but this is simply not the case - and so I will show you the real facts and statistics that prove otherwise.


A rumour that has surfaced a lot in recent years is the thought that kids can't spell properly anymore and are now becoming illiterate. This is completely wrong! As shown by the interview "Texts and Tweets: myths and realities" with Professor David Crystal, it has been proven that the more you text - the better you literacy, along with the fact that kids only find using shortenings 'fashionable' and that it is 'quick and easy' (using shortenings is also more economically efficient for them as texting costs money - seems more smart to actually use shortenings!).


Another common rumour that is completely and utterly ridiculous is that kids are using text-speak in essays and exams and are failing as a result. As from the same source this has been debunked as well; Crystal actually went to schools and asked kids about this as well as teachers and found that - kids find that using text-speak in exams is very stupid and that teachers find that pretty much no text-speak is used in essays and exams (with the odd exception of course).


Overall I do not believe that the English language needs to be wearing a shield of (metaphorical) chainmail armour and carry a sword with it in order to protect itself from the evil new tech-language that is being implemented more frequently into society with the consistent improvement of technology, and neither should you! The facts don't lie.

Is the ability to speak like "Her Majesty" necessary to get on in modern society?

'It is important that we teach children that, to get on, they must speak standard English with an RP accent'

Now this statement may seem to be very patronising and prejudice, but despite this, there are certain factors of it that could actually be true...

Don't get me wrong, I believe that regional accents are brilliant and should not be irradiated from the UK. That would not only be absurd. But it would make our country very, VERY boring indeed. Unfortunately however, certain dialects can hold back young people and what they want to do later on in life if they at the very least, don't know when it is necessary to use a more RP accent over their own regional one.

There have been many studies that have concluded in specific accents being overall perceived as "uneducated" and far "less intelligent", something that is definitely not the case but is not going to be changing anytime soon. Lance Workman, senior lecturer at the University of South Wales, said that Britons made huge assumptions about intelligence based on regional accents and, on average, made up their minds within two minutes. Those hailing from Birmingham were considered to be the least intelligent in studies he conducted. Because of this, finding a high prestige job is a lot harder as a person with a Brummie accent since they are typically perceived as less smart than people with accents such as RP, whom of which are seen as the most intelligent.

This is why I think it is important for schools to not necessarily teach children to only speak in RP, but to teach them how to switch between their regional accent when in casual talks or around family/friends, and a more RP driven accent using standard English rather than colloquialisms and slang, such as 'bab' for 'dear/love' or 'cob' for a bread roll. So that when young people go for a job interview for example, they are treated seriously and there is no form of language barrier between certain regional terms.

In conclusion, I believe that the statement is both right and wrong in a way, and that the best solution is not necessarily to completely abandon the wide variety of regional accents in the UK by teaching children to speak in an RP accent, but to instead teach them the ability to switch between speaking casually and in standard English, the reason being that the country favours certain accents due to prejudice. Which in turn leaves particular groups of people feeling discriminated against, especially in a professional or formal environment.

Does ‘effing and blinding’ more make you less of an intellect?

 

The statement swearing is a sign of limited intelligence gets tossed about here and there but lacks any scientific evidence or reason to be considered correct.

However, there IS scientific evidence as to why swearing makes you MORE intelligent, so keep up with all the taboo language and you’ll be as smart as Einstein in no time! (Unfortunately, I’m joking, please don’t actually go around ‘effing’ in peoples faces for the magic that is Einstein’s brain…)

Swearing is actually more complex than you think and can be used in several ways, it isn’t just the braindead language of the illiterate. In fact, swearing is used for linguistic effect, to demonstrate emotion, for a good laugh and even to be purposefully nasty or mean to someone else.

Psychologists actually find quite fascinating and there was a study conducted by psychologists from the Marist College to see if there were any links between how fluent the subjects were in English Language and how fluent they were in swearing. The first test was the verbal fluency test, which conducted of subjects having to name as many words as they can beginning with every letter of the alphabet for one minute each time. The second test conducted was the swearing fluency test in which subjects simply had to name as many swear words as they can in one minute. Ironically, all those who did better in the verbal fluency test did better in the swearing fluency test as well.

Swearing also has some practical uses too, such as pain relief. Another scientific experiment was conducted where subjects had to put their hand in freezing cold water and tolerate for as long as they could while repeating a certain neutral word, and then try it whilst repeating a certain swear word. The results concluded that those repeating the swear word had a higher pain tolerance than those who didn’t.

Taboo language is also seen differently in other cultures, so our perception of the word ‘f*ck’ may be different in other countries. For example, in the Netherlands, they completely accept pretty much all swear words and don’t get offended. But using words meaning poor health as an insult (such as ‘that’s cancer’) is very frowned upon. Another example of this is blasphemy, using the lords name in vain is considered worse than ‘f*ck’ too. Which proves we shouldn’t put certain words on a pedestal and link them with being unintelligent as other cultures find certain words more offensive than others and some of those words aren’t even considered swearing in English.

I do agree however that excessive swearing can be quite annoying sometimes, especially when the person swearing doesn’t even try to mix up their own vocabulary from time to time. This is clearly where the stigma came from and maybe there are a lot of unintellectual people who overly swear, but the vast majority are people who just want to crack a rude joke or express frustration, anger or pain.

Overall, swearing can be used in many different ways such as linguistic, effect, emotion or even for jokes, swearing has also been proven to quite the tool for a higher pain tolerance and other cultures have words that are considered worse than the most frowned upon swear words like blasphemy.

Are we losing a sense of Britishness when asking about getting coffees to go?!?

Americanisms are something that have been rapidly “destroying” true and superior British-English with horrifically ridiculous words and phrases such as ‘skedaddle!’ and ‘can I get a coffee to go’ for too long now! It is up to us to stop this tragedy before we all start “skedaddling” down the “sidewalk” of Trafalgar Square!

Now doesn’t that whole sentence just sound incredibly absurd, overdramatic and a little patriotic? Or is it just me? Either way that is sadly how a lot of British people think nowadays, or perhaps have always thought…

Well, that’s where if you happen to be on the “overly patriotic British side” this blog post falls into place. Hopefully it can change your perspective and show you that skedaddling down the sidewalk of Trafalgar Square isn’t so bad after all.


Obviously, I am not saying Americanisms are always helpful and can fix the English language, some are just downright misleading for any regular British person, such as word ‘pavement’ as it is used instead of the word ‘road’ in America, I don’t think getting those two mixed up would end too well to be perfectly honest with you. The same can be said for the phrase “I could care less” which just straight up doesn’t make any sense whatsoever! I just want to know where on Earth the “couldn’t” went off to…

A lot of British people also don’t find the idea of using pure American words too appealing either, however this is a simply flawed reason to be against Americanisms, the reason being the complete and utter hypocrisy coming from their end.

Over the period of hundreds of years, we have been taking words from other parts of the world and making them our own. Some of these may perhaps make you re-think your entire language as a whole! Probably the most British word of all, being ‘tea’ actually originates from China! The word ‘bungalow’ comes from India, and even the phrase ‘stiff upper lip’ actually originates from the U.S… Seems quite hypocritical doesn’t it?

 I think another plausible reason to let Americanisms pass is for how amazingly fun, bubbly and light they are. Why on earth wouldn’t you want to ‘skedaddle’ downtown, hold a ‘bombazine’ (umbrella) or call someone a ‘pumpkin head’ (imbecile) every once and a while?

Whilst Americanisms are also good to spice up your vocabulary a little they also sometimes make more sense than words and spellings in British-English. We’ve all heard the infamous ‘colour vs color’ debate at least once before, and honestly the Americans definitely win this battle. The extra ‘U’ that we as Brits seem to put everywhere just overcomplicate a very simple word. Even words like ‘gotten’ make more sense to have in our language than only having ‘got’ to define acquiring something and possessing something, the word ‘gotten’ helps to distinct the action of acquiring something from possessing it. Pretty helpful if you ask me.

 In conclusion, the positives of Americanisms far outweigh the negatives in my opinion, although I do not believe they can fix our language completely they certainly do make it a little less complex and can add some fun and exhilarating words and phrases that make a fine addition to our British-English slang collection. Hopefully now you can accept Americanisms or at the very least tolerate them a little more…  

Hello there!...

The first ever blog that I am going to be posting shall be about the topical issues about the English Language and my own personal responses to them. At this point I have done research on one particular topical issue... Americanisms!