Engrish
A colleague sent the above link to me, knowing how much I loathe the obvious shift in literacy. I admit, it offers a different approach as to what and how it is happening, but my basic principles on the subject remain unfettered.
I completely agree that the Internet has changed how people write to each other. Kids have learned how to [effectively?] communicate with larger audiences through the use of Twitter and Facebook. They've learned the art of being succinct. (f u cnt shthnd & engrish mods az b-ing succinct - heck, evn i cn do dat wuz kall3d l33t sp33k b4 yann0.) However, it is not true that they simply abbreviate and reword things to get their points across to other peeps while online. They also make gross typos and misspellings, even as they advance into the workplace, regardless of the audience. Illiteracy may not be occurring, but English is no longer standardized. I don't believe the Internet is causing this, but it is facilitating it. Ultimately, the failure to write correctly is due to irresponsibility. Otherwise, the VERY EASY access to online resources to look up spellings, search for synonyms to better get points across, and - omg (oh my God!), let's not forget the use of spell check!! - would be frequented more often. But no. Despite all of the advances brought on by mass collaboration, the tool that is being utilized most appears to be brevity.
A friend of mine told me once that her son was approached by his teacher. She asked him to stop using such large words in his essays. He asked why. She said it was because it made the other students feel bad. Quite literally, he was being asked to "dumb down" his words rather than encourage others to learn better writing techniques through repeated exposure. Since many of those kids probably didn't reach much other than Twitter, she was, in effect, purposefully reducing the vocabulary of her students. In return, the boy could finally talk to his peers. Ooh, whup dee doo.
"Dumbing" ourselves down for people who complain about the use of "big" words is, to me, like giving welfare recipients more money when they're doing nothing to better themselves. It's one thing to talk to a specific audience in a certain way to make sure they understand. It's completely another to eradicate chances of their improvement in a classroom situation. Especially in an ENGLISH CLASS!!!!!
On another note, I was reading a novel the other day from an authour I've been reading for years, and I found a typo. When I saw typos on the tables at my workplace, I tried to raise a warning, and no one cared, so I fell silent. When I saw typos in newspapers, I was scoffed. When I corrected people, I was told to mind my own business. When I wrote complete sentences in online gaming chats, I was called a "secretary." And now, I am still mocked, scoffed, and laughed at for caring about the one language we should all know as Americans who regularly send out e-junk stating that if foreigners don't wanna learn English then send them the f*** back over the border.
Then again, many of the people who do NOT send me such entertaining dribble happen to spell correctly 99.5% of the time. Imagine that.
Tell me that this is not affecting everyone now, even if everyone doesn't care. Tell me that it doesn't matter when over half the population no longer knows how to read the fine print on mortgage deeds so they don't get in over their heads. Tell me it doesn't matter! I dare you.
~The Tormented English Fairy
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