Demise of the Written Word

English is such a flexible language. This is a good thing but it’s also a bad thing. The good thing is English has the ability to take a word from another language, mash it up a bit and use it in new and unexpected ways. That’s one of the reasons it’s used throughout the world in aviation and scientific circles. Any native speaker can make up a new word at the drop of a hat.

For instance, as I watch one of my sons watching TV, the word ‘slouch’ comes to mind. He’s a teenager, so slouching comes naturally. He just has that teen ‘slouchy’ look about him. Call it a slouch-like quality.

No other language in the world could actually use a word like ‘slouch’ as a noun, then verb, then adjective, then adverb just by adding an –ing or –y or some other. There would be qualifiers and modifiers and a whole bunch of other –ifiers that would have to be used. Then another sentence to explain all the modifiers.

It stands to reason that English would be affected so quickly by texting and tweeting and all the other methods of passing information over the Net. It actually makes sense, especially when you see and use the tiny little keyboards on the smartphones. It’s one time where it comes in handy to be all thumbs.

And honestly, I’m not against the shortening of words in order to get the message across faster. It’s just with virtually everyone having texting plans or twittering or using emoticons, the spoken and written language as we know it is being massacred. I know that every generation says this, but really, it’s happening before our eyes.

I actually heard a group of younger adults chatting the other day and I swear I heard someone answer “OMG! LOL!” That was ‘O-M-G’ then ‘lawl’. Today, it’s not ‘I love you’ it’s ‘I heart you’, because that’s the way a text message shows it.

Don’t get me started on spelling or this column will never end.

I’m afraid that people will soon forget how to read any word over two syllables. Everything might be reduced to a symbol or a four character acronym. That would severely limit my occupation, let me tell you.

And where would all the great words go? The ones that roll off your tongue and pack so much meaning into one place? Words like ‘serendipity’, ‘ambidextrous’, ‘musicality, ‘skookumchuk’ and ‘anaesthesiologist’?

Okay, that last one is a stretch, but come on; doesn’t ‘skookumchuk’ just roll off the tongue wonderfully? 

Try shrinking that in a text message. I dare you.

So here’s what I’d like you to do. Every day, just once a day, try to find a word that has at least four syllables. Then read it and then say it out loud until it just rolls off your tongue. Make it yours and try to fit it into a conversation sometime that day. That does mean you’ll actually have to know what the word means, so just be careful and make sure you use it correctly.

I don’t want to have a plethora (which means overabundance; too much of something) of phone calls or emails saying that you got into trouble. That wouldn’t be felicitous…

For more words like ‘antidisestablishmentarianism’, drop me a line and I'll give you a free polysyllabic word all your own!