I must rant today against the impoverishment of language. I have always felt that language is a very imperfect way to comnunicate . How can tbe word tree for example adequately create a picture of what i really mean by tree. Even adding descriptive adjectives like stately elm tree or stunted, wind-blasted pine are really kind of inadequate. Therefore it is my belief that the greater your vocabulary is, the greater chance you have to communicate at least ina quasi-meaningful manner. Thus when I see attempts at communication through language reduced to a 110 character statement on twitter, or worse yet an emoticon, which I take to be a social media substitute for body language. I despair. I see all around me potentially powerful means of communication like television and the internet being used to dumb down our intelligence and I despair. How soon, I wonder will our verbal communication be reduced to pre-linguistic grunts and chirps and whistles? How easily controlled will we be as a general population when only a chosen elite retains the power of language and the rest of us are twittering and emoticoning and pretending it is communication?
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 19:30:42 +0000