English: Well, I suppose with its extensive use all over the world it can be regarded as a melting pot of cultures. A potpourri of sorts. I’ve always loved the language. My favourite part of studying English in school had nothing to do with the adverbs, pronouns, infinitives, gerunds, auxiliaries or any of that technical grammar stuff they usually force feed kids. It was the eloquent words of Shelley, Wordsworth, Browning, Blake, Tennyson, Frost, the short stories of P.G. Wodehouse, O Henry, Somerset Maugham and Hawthorne and the great tragedy Julius Caesar by Shakespeare that actually made it possible for me to sit up in class when I knew that I’d be better off sleeping to the sweet tune of my REM cycles. The exquisite use of words in telling a story or expressing a pivotal emotion is a sort of a literary banquet. The level of English being taught in college on the other hand…
Forget global warming, oil spills, natural disasters and corrupt politicians. It’s the English language that’s being repeated annihilated. Today’s English has metamorphosed colossally both good and bad. Well, mainly bad. I’ve made it a point to compile a list of words that are misused, mispronounced and frequently misspoken by people today.
Reeely – I hate to break it to you, but it’s not pronounced ‘reeeely’. It’s ‘really’. You might want to pay attention to that ‘a’ smack-dab in the middle of that word. And as to how it’s correctly pronounced: ’real’ as in ‘ The Spanish Inquisition is real’ and ‘ee’ as in the sound one makes when one is attacked by giant squirrels in the Peruvian Desert. So… I’m sure the general public and other homicidal rodents would duly pay heed to this.
Fab or Fantabulous – I’m tired of A-listers and wannabe A-listers using these particular words to describe a recent party or an air headed shopping spree. I mean, it’s bad enough that a word like ‘fabulous’ gets to suffer by being shortened. But to club it with ‘fantastic’?
Normalcy –Well, in reality, it’s ‘normality’. Sorry, I just needed to mention this technicality.
Bestie – This is what it’s come to, hasn’t it? Bestie?! Bestie?! Well, the worst part has not only to do with the phonetic sound of the ‘word’. It looks a hundred times worse when it’s texted from one walking, talking glamazon to another in the following sentence: ‘Shaddup. U ma bestie, okiee! Muahhh!!!!!!!!’
Like – I cannot stress on how many times this word gets used incorrectly in a sentence, let alone in an entire conversation! Everyone has the common misconception that it can be randomly inserted, just to link a sentence together. Like, ‘I had my hair done and then I like, went to the mall and like…’ See?
Believe you me – What is this? WHO did this? And why doesn’t that person have a conscience?’ Believe you me, otters are said to be taking over the planet as we speak.’ Well, I believe that this makes no sense whatsoever. Excluding those manic otters.
Beciz - It’s actually ‘because’. It’s pronounced ‘beciz’ in that L’Oreal ad which features Aishwarya Rai. Even though the ad has been running for close to a century now, I still don’t know how no one has noticed the mispronunciation before.
…And over the next few years there’ll be many more words which will be flogged, electrocuted and shot point blank. Till then, I guess it’s best not to speculate about the victims and continue making grammatically correct sentences. MIND IT.
Cheerio!
I couldn’t help chuckle at your honest and well illustrated annoyances.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya!!! According to me—it is still understandable if you havn’t gone to school and have just picked up conversational “English”, ‘coz’—what U hear is what U get—but no excuses for well educated individuals!!
It is hard to understand the expression and feelings behind sentences, that include bebe, Fab, Beciz, and ‘alphabet cluster’ like that- they sound like titles of teen magazines to me!!!-
Living in a country that has its own rules for the language—I do find myself getting caught in the pronunciation trap and being made fun of--—by my very own kids, mostly!!! Their pet peeve is the distinctive V and W sounds of our curling lips.I have learnt to speak mindfully (for the most part)--- and try not to be foolishly ‘hep’ (‘hip’ as they say here!!!) In essence- I think when U speak slowly, with awareness and respect for the language, you express yourself far more potently—otherwise we just create a noisy disturbance
I had read somewhere that words live in communities of other words and they change in relation to the words that surround them—something like that. Kinda makes sense, don’t you think?
Some of the metamorphisms of words that you mentioned make me feel as though they are in a hurry, rushing to catch the express train---(necessity is the mother of invention)—no-one- has time for complete expressions. The mind is running faster than the incomplete confused tongue.
This language needs a new name—maybe ‘Eng or ‘AAngley’--—what say you?!
Poems that you talk about are masterpieces that create a symphony in our hearts- evergreen and everlasting tunes.
With all due respect to the speaker—it’s the thought that counts—and that, my dear, is the most important part.
Keep writing- and creating your own music.
LOL – some say ‘lots of love’ and some say ‘laugh out loud’—either one is good for health.
“Lay-ta-- Alli-gay-ta!!!”
Priti
Aadya! I LOVE THSI! Amen. :D
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