The reinvention of the English language

HoneyBadger

HoneyBadger

I love short track racing (Taylor's Version)
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First, I think the term "Millennials" is becoming increasingly unfair because it lumps those of us who grew up in the 90s with people who grew up in the 2000s and 2010s. Two totally different worlds.

Anyways, the one thing that drives me nuts about kids these days is their relentless reinvention of the English language. I don't know if it's because they have to be "different", are too lazy to type things out, too stupid or just don't care.

The one that drives me up a tree the most is "bae".

"I love you bae", "Out with bae", "Beach with bae" :mad:

Then there's "cray".

"Oh, that's so cray", "It's about to get cray".

Not going to say it's one particular group of young kids who talk and type like this, it's all of them. Just about anyone between the ages of 14 and 20, many (if not most) talk and type like this. There are several more examples I can't think of at the moment.

Is this a product of text messaging or is there some deliberate attempt in progress to reinvent the English language and dumb it down?
 
Literally, the best example of this is that literally now literally means figuratively, which has literally destroyed all meaning of the word since you literally have no idea if the user means literally literally or figuratively literally.
 
ztevans said:
Literally, the best example of this is that literally now literally means figuratively, which has literally destroyed all meaning of the word since you literally have no idea if the user means literally literally or figuratively literally.
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Was I literally losing my mind at Southern National?
 
English has evolved over the years. I read a Sherlock Holmes story recently and was surprised how many words have different meanings now; even the sentence structure is different. Business and Government start using a lot of acronyms years ago, long before texting. Texting is just an extension of that. A lot of terms used in my youth are dated but some are part of the norm today. BTW I don't care for most texting shortcuts but apparently I do use some.
 
ztevans said:
Literally, the best example of this is that literally now literally means figuratively, which has literally destroyed all meaning of the word since you literally have no idea if the user means literally literally or figuratively literally.
Click to expand...

Did you know that the Oxford English Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster dictionaries have literally expanded the definition of the word literally to include figuratively so there is literally no longer a literal English word for the word literally since there are literally no synonyms for the word literally?

I don't know what to call kids younger than me. IMO, they are NOT the same generation. Someone who was born in 1999 is not even close to the same generation.
 
  1. In general we think of a generation being about 25 years - from the birth of a parent to the birth of a child. We also generally accept that the length of a generation in earlier periods of history was closer to 20 years when humans mated younger and life expectancies were shorter.
 
I have a few words that I use that are a combination of two words. Simply because a similar word doesn't exist that is accurately comparable.
 
Johali said:
  1. In general we think of a generation being about 25 years - from the birth of a parent to the birth of a child. We also generally accept that the length of a generation in earlier periods of history was closer to 20 years when humans mated younger and life expectancies were shorter.
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Point is, older people (the people who own businesses and create jobs) hate people my age (26) because we're lumped in with the idiot crowd. I mean, I know I'm considered a "millennial" but there is a huge difference even with people a couple years younger. I don't blame older people for hating my generation at all. My "generation" thinks we're better than everyone else because we have the internet. Nevermind that you have to dumb something down to an internet meme, seven second video or 140 character tweet otherwise you'd lose these kids' attention. :rolleyes:
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Point is, older people (the people who own businesses and create jobs) hate people my age (26) because we're lumped in with the idiot crowd. I mean, I know I'm considered a "millennial" but there is a huge difference even with people a couple years younger. I don't blame older people for hating my generation at all. My "generation" thinks we're better than everyone else because we have the internet. Nevermind that you have to dumb something down to an internet meme, seven second video or 140 character tweet otherwise you'd lose these kids' attention. :rolleyes:
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post below might be a better example . ???


AndyMarquisLive said:
You wanted Ebonics...

... You got it!
Click to expand...
 
Holy crap!! I don't even know what to say after reading these posts..#whatthehell
 
I miss the old days when I could yank a trouble-maker out in the hall, and swat them. Not a beating, mind you, and never
very hard. Just the humiliation was enough to keep them in line. And once, was usually enough.
Once the word got around that I didn't take any guff, having to do that became very rare. Finally, didn't have to do it at all.
 
Zerkfitting said:
English has evolved over the years. I read a Sherlock Holmes story recently and was surprised how many words have different meanings now; even the sentence structure is different. Business and Government start using a lot of acronyms years ago, long before texting. Texting is just an extension of that. A lot of terms used in my youth are dated but some are part of the norm today. BTW I don't care for most texting shortcuts but apparently I do use some.
Click to expand...

When I was a kid if you were queer it meant that you were odd. Both men and women were named Gay or Gaye and if something was bad it was no good.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Point is, older people (the people who own businesses and create jobs) hate people my age (26) because we're lumped in with the idiot crowd. I mean, I know I'm considered a "millennial" but there is a huge difference even with people a couple years younger. I don't blame older people for hating my generation at all. My "generation" thinks we're better than everyone else because we have the internet. Nevermind that you have to dumb something down to an internet meme, seven second video or 140 character tweet otherwise you'd lose these kids' attention. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

It will all work out Andy. I know the curriculum is tougher for High Schools now than it was when I graduated in 1980. And I am around enough young people (twentysomthings) to know there is a good pool of talent for the market.

I have trained more of them than I can count. I don't get their music, slang, hobbies or even their missing sense of urgency.
I teach them theory of the craft always wondering do they really give a crap. But many of them including the most casual types have been pleasant surprises.

Even if I accept your premise, you need to use that as an opportunity. A lot of problems are opportunities once understood. With your powers of articulation and passion (you have a gift to write) you should be a breath of fresh air for those needing your skills.
A lot of folks go through life and never identify a highly polished skill set. That makes you unique, don't waste it.

I would also minimize rejectionions, it is like dating in that she isn't the only girl in the world, or that it is the only job for you. Just keep digging eventually you find the match, and everything clicks.
 
Each generation changes the language somehow.

Yall old folk act like your kid's generation didn't popularize the word "dude" that nearly everyone uses now.

Then there is the popularization of the words "copacetic" and "groovy" before their generation.

Out of the 50's came "Daddy-O", "Dig" (I dig that), and even "hauling ass". The most popular is probably the "Goodbye. See ya later, alligator. Response: after a while crocodile." :D

Every generation has their own mainstream words and slang terms that they use. Some will die out, some will stay.
 
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