Sunday 2 March 2008

Language


The English language is beautiful. To be more precise, the Queen's English is a beautiful language. It's really sad to see these days, the way this language is being murdered. It started with the Americans, who insist on making perfectly good English spellings agricultural and crude. A case in point is the word manoeuvre. As I type this, my American coded Firefox browser displays this as a spelling mistake. Of course, the Americans would want to spell it as maneuver. That, is a terrible spelling. It just takes the whole finesse out of the word. And so, a supremely crafted spelling becomes crude. This is a worrisome trend. The larger problem is that many people who use spell checks in British English speaking countries, end up with the 'corrected' American spellings.

And then we have SMS. In India, the youth takes pride in decimating the English language, wth sn10ces lyk these. AAARGH. That probably makes the Queen cringe and Shakespeare turn in his grave (The author is well aware that Shakespeare couldn't even spell his name right, let alone other words. However, he is unable to think of a suitable name to use. You are requested to pick an English great of choice to replace the poorly chosen Shakespeare.). Even a purist like me is willing to accept such spelling in short messages, but it starts becoming scary when you read these spellings in official letters. And Examination Papers. And on the News. And in magazines. Where will this end?

Language is a gift. A gift that has led mankind to where we are now. We must not, must not, let this gift go in vain by terribly mutilating it.
< /Rant >

*Sigh*. Like that will make any difference.

3 comments:

Harshvardhan Pande said...

How tru, wish every1 wud think da same abt language ;)
More than spelling mistakes, its the mispronunciations that irritate the hell out of me. Totally agree with you

A half light said...

U read my mind! :)

English is one of those themes i've been wishing to write on since aeons..but everytime I consider it, I come upon a still more gruesome adulteration of the language, leaving me simply gaping at the audacity! The nerve of them people! :|
If U don't know how to use it, DON'T. seriously. :|

English is beautiful. Powerful. Satisfying.*sigh*
And i'm really damn afraid we're slowly, but surely, losing out on it.

one of your best!! :)

greySith said...

Do you see the quiet ironies here? You use 'U' everywhere instead of 'you'. I've finished my post with '< / rant >'. That is of course, HTML and in itself, a mutilation of the english language. Look how even we, who try to be judicious and correct in our use of the english language trip up every now and again.