Death of the English Language

[Tadir]

I'm disappointed in you, Dictionary...

 

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/09/20/web.oxford.dictionary/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

 

(CNN) -- Are years of e-mails, text messaging and status updates finally affecting the written word?

 

#nokidding.

 

The venerable Oxford American Dictionary has added a ginormous (adj., not included) list of words inspired by the interweb (noun, included).

 

The next time you look up a word, expect to see lots of abbreviations, webspeak and casual slang.

 

Here's a partial list of the internet-inspired terms:

 

⢠BFF: Best friend forever

 

⢠Defriend: Stop being someone's friend, a la Facebook

 

⢠Hashtag: Using the pound sign (#) to create a keyword, a la Twitter

 

⢠Interweb: A funny term for the internet

 

⢠LMAO: Laughing my ass off

 

⢠TTYL: Talk to you later

 

The New Oxford American Dictionary has added cultural slang in the past, but never as aggressively as it has in the latest edition.

 

Its big brother, the less frequently updated Oxford English Dictionary, is also going through major changes.

 

Citing slumping sales, the 126-year-old book recently said it was considering going all digital for its next full update, the Oxford English Dictionary, Volume 3.

 

It is nice to see Oxford attempting to get with the times. But how much of a blowback will schools receive when students can defend Twitter language -- not to mention slang like "lipstick lesbian," "tramp stamp" and "bromance" -- in their essays?

 

You can almost hear your eighth-grade English teacher having a heart attack -- or even briefly pondering one potential addition that Oxford neglected:

 

WTF?

[Aveline]

Scrabble just got way easier. >

[Asytra]

Scrabble just got way easier. >

 

:lol:

 

Truth be told, English has always been an evolving language, for better or worse.

[Magnus]

Scrabble just got way easier. >

 

OMG I can totally win now! WTF 9pts ROFLMAO 12pts QFT 15pts

[Vareal]

This is why I continue to use full words and sentences when writing an email or text message, or, in this case, a forum post. I also practice proper grammar. What I think is really killing the language is the fact that they're discontinuing the practice and teaching of cursive writing. Which means that kids are not only not going to be able to write in cursive, but they won't be able to read it either.

[Tadir]

I was only able to write cursive for about one year. Then I went back to printing.

 

I don't think cursive is the issue. I think writing is. With the prevalence of computers, I'm afraid children will eventually come to rely on them for all writing. It would be a very easy trap to fall into, seeing as I hardly ever write myself.

[Aveline]

Even though I type MUCH faster than I can write out something by hand, and I've almost always got a PC or a laptop nearby, I still write on paper a lot. I find it's much easier to brainstorm and get creative with writing when using paper. Staring at a blank Word doc is just never as alluring as when faced with a blank sheet of paper.

[shotgunbadger]

Honestly I never got the outrage here. Languages evolve over time, I don't use a lot of those terms but they are part of common English at this point and it's rather silly to think some words are more 'valid' then others when it comes down to it.

[DAISHI]

Let's all go read Beowulf and see how well we understand English.

[Trizzip]

Welcome to the future!

[Emaraya]

Come to Germany, we got Denglisch. Our language is getting warped with false interpretations of english nouns and other words or strange sums of two. Why do you even care about the short version of an english word, ours aren't even german anymore.

[Chveya]

Come to Germany' date=' we got Denglisch. Our language is getting warped with false interpretations of english nouns and other words or strange sums of two. Why do you even care about the short version of an english word, ours aren't even german anymore.[/quote']

 

Some of ours aren't English, either. Just like darn near every language out there, we've borrowed, warped, adapted and re-used words from a dozen different languages over time, until now most people don't even realize it.

[Asyria]

Wow...

Just, wow...

This isn't even funny anymore.

I used to take pleasure in making fun of the interweb nubs who butchered English for the sake of "practicality" (or just plain illiteracy), but if they're going to make these into real words, what the hell am I going to do?

Am I going to need to use 13375P34K to make fun of net-speakers now?

Or will that evolve into an official language?

 

[Tadir]

[DAISHI]

Lol! One of the most underused memes!

[Renaise]

 

Sums it up for me from about 1:20 or so :moogle:

[shotgunbadger]

 

Sums it up for me from about 1:20 or so :moogle:

 

Fry will always be the most awesome man.

[Emaraya]

Yes, the link and the video are really 'book'.