The changing language of today

By Josh Young Posted January 12, 2011

Has it ever been brought to your mind the idea that our language and the “correct” meanings of words that people used to use each day are changing? With everyone being so worried about offending others, and others relying on certain dysphemisms, the meanings of words have changed drastically, either to lessen their connotation or amplify it.

There are ways to define words in a way that can be softened, or even confusing, such as “lazy.” If you wanted to be nice, but still call someone lazy, then you could just say that they are “motivationally deficient.” Or an ugly person is “cosmetically different.” English is a subjective language, always conforming to how we need to use it. This can lead to confusion for someone who isn’t “in the know.”

There are words in our language that, upon being said, bring different ideas to mind than were originally intended when the word(s) first began to be used. Take the word “queer,” for example. In the beginning, this word started out as meaning strange or counterfeit, but nowadays it has a negative connotation towards people when someone so chooses it to. Also, the word “legit,” short for legitimate, has changed. It really means “being exactly as purposed, neither spurious nor false,” while in the vernacular it now has come to mean “cool.”

In the technological age of today, our language is also degenerating into a nation of “text talk.” It has gotten so bad that people are using these shortened, and often wrong, terms in important pieces, such as school reports. I have often seen “r” instead of “are,” and “u” instead of “you.” It is a degeneration of our language, and once again, if you aren’t “in the know,” you are being left in the dust, utterly confused by the changes going on around you
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These extreme changes in meaning and writing have come to show just how language is a living thing, forever changing. However, no one ever said that change is always a good thing.

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