Traditional English words are dying out due to the increasing popularity of text speak according to a survey published last week to mark the launch of Planet Word, a book and BBC TV programme, which tells the story of language from the earliest grunts to the world of Twitter and instant messaging.
The survey of 2,000 adults found that almost three-quarters believe longer words have become outdated since text messages and social networking websites gained popularity
Also a quarter of British adults admitted using text message abbreviations such as ‘lol’ (laughing out loud), ‘jel’ (jealous) and ‘soz’ (sorry) in communication.
Half of those polled didn’t know what a ‘cad’ was while three-quarters had never described something as ‘diabolical’.
As new words such as ‘hoodie,’ ‘wag,’ ‘nimby,’ and ‘chav,’ bed themselves in, sadly ‘balderdash’ and ‘gobbledegook,’ are put out to grass.
Actor Ralph Fiennes joined the debate by condemning social media sites such as Twitter for “truncating the English language.” “Language is being eroded — it’s changing,” he said. “Our expressiveness and our ease with some words is being diluted so that the sentence with more than one clause and the word of more than two syllables is a problem for us.”
Though the English language rightly re-invents itself with each generation, it can be counter- productive for media commentators to discard words and expressions that are more vivid and descriptivive than modern alternatives.
Many words and phrases that have been used down the generations are still in vogue. A casual glance through the world’s press coverage sees regular usage of words such as ‘pompadour’, ‘rumbustious’, and ‘idiosyncratic,’ as journalists strive to bring colour to their text.
Commentators who use decades age old metaphors to stress their point, such as ‘rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic,’ a ‘roller coaster ride,’ or ‘killing the goose that lays the golden egg,’ are not penalised by generation y journalists and are far more likely to receive coverage than if they opted for more bland or less understood alternatives.
A recent Twitter campaign to name and shame those companies which use the expression ‘I am delighted,’ as a pre-cursor to announcing a new employee appointment or contract win, highlights the frustration that journalists have with idle and superficial corporate pleasantries.
Journalists need to write articles that people want to read. Not surprisngly, colourful, unusual words and comments shine out like a beacon and are far more likely to rise to the top of the pile.
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