Internet Shorthand
Translate the following conversation, if you can:
GUY1: wuz up?
GUY2: nm, just chillin, u?
GUY1: co’, btw did u hear about joe
GUY2: no
GUY1: imho, hes crazy :) he told julia that he wanted 2 8==D her @ the mall
GUY2: roflmao! :) ur right, hes crazy
GUY1: 4 real
GUY2: hey, I g2g, ttyl
GUY1: l8r
Any guess on to what is going on? Well, I’ll go ahead and give you the basic rundown on what the conversation said: Guy1 was commenting on how is friend Joe asked a girl (Julia) if they could have consensual sex together in the local mall. Guy2 found this exchange very amusing, as he was “rolling on the floor laughing my ass off”. Furthermore, Guy1 also interjected his own personal opinion that Joe was/is crazy. Finally they agreed to converse at a later date. All that from 43 separate “symbols” and words. Welcome to the future.
However, in my humble opinion, you can exchange the word ‘future’ with ‘hell’. The internet, chatting and the glut of instant messengers have helped create a subculture of the English langue that is starting to creep into everyday life. It’s a disturbing trend. I feel the line needs to be drawn between the fast flowing conversational style shorthand of internet writing and formal English style before the way we write as we know it makes a radical change towards simple pictures and codes.
Maybe part of my opinion is based on spite: If I had to learn all the dos and don’ts of modern English, so should you. But I think it’s more then just that. I can see the writing on the wall and it’s not looking too bright. Dumbing down the language to simplest terms can be a very dangerous thing. Don’t believe me, flip through a copy of Orwell’s 1984 and you’ll see how Big Brother has developed a “plainspeak” directive. In fact, I’m not alone in this belief. In Sven Birket’s article “Into the Electronic Millennium” he discusses the devolution of modern language: “The complexity and distinctiveness of spoken and written expression, which are deeply bound to traditions of print literacy, will gradually be replaced by a more telegraphic sort of ‘plainspeak’” (70).
Mcelvie, P., Low, J. (2002). Listening to Mozart does not improve children's spatial ability: Final curtains for the Mozart effect. The British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 20(1), 241-259. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/218679147
“Your Ability to Can Even: A Defense of Internet Linguistics” by Tia Baheri, is a great read. The article focuses on the new language that has been created among Internet users and how some critics think it is a negative impact on the English language and how others, such as Baheri herself, think that there is nothing wrong with the change what so ever. After reading the article, I agree with Tia Baheri, I also think that language is as she states, “Supposed to flex and shape itself to convey what we mean to say as directly and efficiently as possible”. Yes, some who do not spend a lot of time on the Internet may not understand some of the newly used phrases but for others it is the best way to express themselves.
In Jonathan Swifts’ “Gulliver's Travels”, humankind is pointedly examined from three vantage points, and the protagonist, Gulliver, transforms a bit in the process. Initially, during Part 1, he apparently is the very picture of a generic 18th century explorer: adventurous, utilitarian and unsentimental. Gulliver’s rather plain worldview is well explained to the audience at the start: Gulliver is 40 years old, he has two kids), and by showing the items he carries on his person, particularly his glasses, which appear throughout the work. When the reader reaches Part II Gulliver is basically the same, but occasionally the satire dictates he transform into somewhat of a fool, bragging about his ‘great country’, and other Nationalist-esque slogans. Yet, ironically, he simultaneously betrays many a fact about his Love, England. The reader finds in Part III he is, again, very much who he was when they first found him. But once the reader discovers he mainly is now hanging out nearly exclusi...
The Mozart Effect is a phenomenon taking both the scientific world and public eye by storm. The controversy over the Mozart Effect has allowed the spread of a misconception that listening to Mozart can enhance general intelligence. The term “Mozart Effect” relates specifically to the neuropsychology research paper, carried out by Rauscher, Shaw, & Ky in 1993, that reported temporary increases in college students’ ability to perform spatial reasoning tasks after briefly listening to Mozart’s sonata K. 448 (Taylor & Rowe 2012). Although spatial reasoning is important for generating and theorising solutions to problems, this alone does not mean that listening to Mozart’s music will make babies, or anyone smarter.
Amongst military theorists and practitioners who studied war, its origin and implications, Carl von Clausewitz assumes a place among the most prominent figures. With his book On War, he demonstrated his capability to provide thorough historical analysis and conclusions of the conflicts in which he was engaged, and as a philosopher he reflected about all encompassing aspects of war. Today, Western armies conduct modern warfare in a dynamic environment composed of flexible and multiple threats in which civilians form a substantial part. Studying Clausewitz provides current military and political leadership useful insights to understand twenty-first century warfare. He explains the nature of war, provides an analytical tool to understand the chaos of warfare, and he argues for well educated and adaptable leadership capable of creative thinking. Although he died before his work was complete, his writing style was ambiguous and unclear at some moments, and current technology reduced some of his tactics obsolete, his work still arouses and inspires military and political strategists and analysts.
Former studies have evaluated whether Mozart’s composition has continuing benefits on a child’s cognitive development. A former study conducted by Rauscher (1993) contradicts the belief that the Mozart Effect has long-term benefits for children and individuals. The study involved thirty-six college students which were directed to listen to three alternative conditions for ten minutes- Mozart piano sonata, relaxation music and silence (Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., & Ky, K. N, (1993). Using the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale, the students were immediately examined on their spatial reasoning where the results indicated the student’s mean IQs were 8-9 points higher when they listened to classical music compared to other conditions (Rauscher et al, 1993). Further examinations disclose...
“Our generation doesn't ring the doorbell. They text or call to say they're outside,” this line is from one of the well-known social networks, Tweeter, which shows how the way of communication has change in this modern life. According to 2013 statistics by Business Insider, in United States alone, smartphone owners aged 18 to 24 send 2,022 texts per month on average — 67 texts on a daily basis — and receive another 1,831 texts (Cocotas). Nowadays, technology such as text messaging has practically replaced traditional face to face communication among the society primarily in young generations because texting allows messages to be sent fast and effortless. In order to quickly type what they are trying to say in text messaging, people are frequently using textspeak; the language created by using abbreviation rather than complete words. Based on this phenomenon, David Crystal, an honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Wales has published an article entitled ‘2b or not 2b?’ in the Guardian on July 5, 2008 comes out with the research and studies that state texting can actually improve the literacy of children and create creativity of writing. However, by observing more critically, texting do decrease a person’s ability to switch between textspeak and the normal rules of grammar and adversely affect formal writing and conversational skills.
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol C. 9th ed. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 2492-2633. Print.
...t know what George Orwell would have to say about English now. We are in a largely technological age and, with text message slang and emoticons blanching all color from thought and emotion, I believe the English language is in even more trouble now than in George Orwell’s time. I imagine the English language as a lonely working class dog that has strayed far from home. I realize, in reality the lonely dog is right by our side. It’s not lost, just poorly trained. English should be seen as “an instrument which we shape for our own purposes” (591). We must ask ourselves, what is the use of having a poor quality tool if it doesn’t work? We have, through abuse and neglect, shaped “man’s best friend” into the sad form it is today. Should we grab the shot gun and take poor, old “Yeller” back behind the shed? No! We should take the steps to fix what we have done.
The idea of the Mozart effect began in 1993 with a study conducted by Rauscher, Shaw & Ky. This study involved 36 university students taking three different IQ spatial reasoning tasks and for each test used either Mozart’s sonata for two pianos in D major and relaxation music was played, silence was also used. The results of this experiment showed that students who had listened to the music of Mozart had better results for the spacial reasoning tests in comparison to silence or relaxation music. The results also showed that the impact of Mozart’s music was only temporary and only lasted for 10-15 minutes. Overall this study was very basic and had numerous flaws such as the sample size and also the variety of tests used to look at the impact of music (Rauscher, Shaw & Ky, 1993). In 1997 Don Campbell’s book The Mozart effect popularised the claim that music makes children smarter. This book created a public interest in music and brain development. The book uses Rauscher’s experiment as an example of what Mozart’s music can do which in this experiment shows a temporary increase in spatial reasoning, this however was misinterpreted by the public as an increase in IQ. The popularisation of the...
Text messaging has become a norm in our generation, as technology rapidly advances and gives way to more efficient forms of communication in a fast-paced world; and many are skeptical about the influence this new form of interaction is having on our society, especially with our younger generation. David Crystal, a professor at the University of Wales, writes “2b or Not 2b?” in support of text messaging. He insists, despite those who underestimate or negate the beneficial influence text messaging has on language proficiency, that “there is increasing evidence that [texting] helps rather than hinders literacy” and that the fairly recent form of communication has actually been around for a while and “is merely the latest manifestation of the human ability to be linguistically creative and to adopt language to suit the demands of diverse settings. In contrast, Jeffery Kluger argues in “We Never Talk Anymore: The Problem with Text Messaging” that text messaging is rapidly becoming a substitute for more genuine forms of communication and is resulting in difficulty among young peoples of our generation to hold a face-to-face conversation, engage in significant nonverbal expression, and ultimately build effective relationships with family, friends and co-workers. Both writers’ present valid arguments, however, my personal experience with text messaging has led me to agree more with Crystal’s view on the matter. Text messaging is indeed having a positive effect on society by making frequent texters primarily aware of the need to be understood, as well as offering betterment of spelling and writing through practice, and reinventing and expanding on a bygone dimension of our language through the use of rebuses and abbreviations.
Von Clausewitz, Carl. On War. Translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989.
In a sociolinguist perspective “the idea of a spoken standardized language is a hypothetical construct” (Lippi-Green, 2012, pp. 57). They are the form of Britain English and American English that are used in textbooks and on broadcasting. Giles and Coupland observe that “A standard variety is the one that is most often associated with high socioeconomic status, power and media usage in a particular community” (1991, p. 38). Both native speakers and learners of English, where English is taught as a second or foreign language (hereafter ESL/EFL), speak dialect of English in everyday conversation (Kachru, 2006, pp. 10-11; Owens 2012, p.
Jonathan Swift’s fictional series Gulliver’s Travels is a classic piece of literature that has been enjoyed for centuries around the world. Many readers, to whom this great work has brought much diversion, may not know that Swift did not write it purely for that purpose but also to speak his mind within the code of a satiric novel. Swift’s motives for writing “Gulliver’s Travels” include his desire to express his opinions of politics, the culture of science, and the corruption of mankind disguised by analogies and blurred by fiction.
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels presents a narrator, Lemuel Gulliver, who recounts his various sea voyages to fantastical lands. During each voyage, Gulliver encounters different societies and customs to which Gulliver must adjust to. in order to be accepted into their society The entire novel serves as a commentary on how people everywhere have a tendency to abuse the power given to them.