Urban Language = Destruction of Society

Most thugs speak clear English when they're being interrogated after an arrest too. The ghetto-speak is posturing. Whereas proper English speaking will help them to appear less offensive when they are appealing for mercy.

Last Edited by Jackinthebox on 06/28/2009 07:38 PM

Look at who and what is behind what you just mentioned.
Again, look at my other statements herein.

Economic victims and street soldiers. Is it someone's fault they are born in Bed-Stuy? Just bad luck. But they still need to get by and communicate on a level not known to those who don't face their unique set of challenges.

EDIT to add:

So language would be the symptom of much larger problems, not the cause.

Last Edited by Jackinthebox on 06/28/2009 07:44 PM

English has become the global language because of its adaptability, and is always in the process of change.
While I agree that a relatively 'pure' form must be kept, urban language is an integral part, being playful with language is the hallmark of all great writers and thinkers, it will not destroy society. Chill man!

After reading this thread, I'm going to take up Latin. At least I'll know what are "soon to be" overlords are saying.

All predictions are that standard English will soon be exctinct among the masses and only spoken by the highly educated, much the way Latin was once used. Probably in as little as a century.

But then again, China is about to become the biggest English-speaking nation on the planet.

Last Edited by Jackinthebox on 06/28/2009 07:43 PM

I look at the 60's at the last chapter to the end of this sad state of affairs.

Key issue = FORCED MULTICULTURALISM

The rest of the story is found in the United States Code.

LOLZ dickslaped

We made the indian wearn enrish round eye wtf???


lol lol lol

Well, there are certain things that do rub me the wrong way. Seeing a news anchor use ghetto terminology in "whitespeak" accent because she thinks its cute really turns me off. And so do the bucket-head 59/50 baseball hats that everyone seems to be wearing now.

But there too, I would still say it's natural progression. Like rock-n-roll. Roots in black music, now pretty much a white thing.

EDIT to add: Not that this language/speech topic is based entirely on race either mind you. But race does have some powerful uinfluence just the same, by default.

Last Edited by Jackinthebox on 06/28/2009 08:16 PM

so true! beat those indians in boarding schools who dared speak their language. Oh well what comes around goes around.

"English went through a bad phase when boffins decided to impose grammar
on it, like the Romans had. It didn't really work out. Eventually it was
realised that English worked differently, and that usage is the arbiter
of correctness.

The history of English is interesting - it is a language that has grown
and developed through absorbing the languages of all the invaders of
England over the millenia. That gives it tremendous flexibility, and a
natural capacity to absorb new concepts. It also makes the structure of
English contradictory at times, depending on where and when words and
phrases came into the language.

The French language doesn't have this flexibility - its correctness is
overseen by L'Academie Française and new words and phrases can only be
introduced with their approval. This is causing a lot of problems with
the digital revolution. Adopting English terms is frowned upon, and the
French have to describe technological innovations in long-winded phrases
instead of the single words or acronyms we use. L'Academie Française
recently deemed that the word "e-mail" should not be used in France, and
invented the more French-sounding word "courriel" instead. So nobody
else in the world knows what they are talking about now.

To me, language is not just a tool for communicating, it is a tool for
thinking. English is a good tool for innovative thinking because of its
flexibility in absorbing new concepts. I sometimes wonder if that is why
both the industrial revolution and the digital revolution took hold in
English-speaking countries."

[quoting Pamela Rosengren]

[link to www.southparkstudios.com]

This is the issue with mixing of cultures. It is really a deEvolution of any given culture.

So you don't think your culture has the intestinal fortitude to withstand the slings and arrows of a few slang words and phrases?



Well kiss my grits! :D

Not with the schools the way they are

Idiocy.

Language is dynamic and MUST remain so. ALL of human history including spoken and written language reflects this. At every stage in the development of man there have been those who proclaim a golden age. or some other concept that portrays the idea that things were the best then and should not change. EVERY spoken and written language still in use is an amalgam or bastardization of those that came before it. English was the bastardization of romance and germanics. It is literally a complete hodgepodge of slang, mis-pronounciations and flat out misuses of existing words. Nothing you speak today is anything less a complete failure to use a previous language properly, and everything you say is a result of the evolution of communication as required by the state and direction of the society before it. This is how language works. The idea that any portion of language is a static place that should be maintained, or who's integrity is inherent and important, is flawed at the core of its inception.

Spelling and grammar are nothing more than a framework that serves to slow the change enough that society as a whole can adapt to it. It does not hold back, nor should it, the progress (or perceived lack thereof ) of any language as a whole. They are not the glue that maintains civilization, they are merely the friction that keeps it from going so fast it flies apart.

By complaining that any aspect of any dialect of English, or any other language, for that matter, is wrong or an indicator of a core problem is to be naive of not only the nature of communication but of your own self. You become nothing more than the old man proclaiming that "new music is too loud" or "too fast", or that some other aspect of popular culture "isnt like it used to be.". You become nothing more than an educated curmudgeon.

Language is a trailing indicator of culture and ideas. If the language of portions of modern America offend you, then the culture that created it is at the heart of it. Unless you would follow in Orwells footsteps and attempt to mandate society by the creation and imposition of a structured language to maintain a "proper" culture, then you are doing nothing more than blaming the wind for the storm that already passed by. If you don't like the language, change the culture that fosters it. Language is a mirror. Painting over a mirror doesn't change how you look....it just changes what you see

Language is the least of our worries.



Creative math is a more serious problem.



In my guesstimation. :D

Thank you for you long winded opinion.

People in America are not as well educated as they were 50 years ago. You are in delusion.

And if Latin wasn't a "dead" language, it would have been "urbanized" the same way English and every other language has as well.

The only comment I will make is that soon we will be living in a society so dumbed down that it will be unrecognizable to any remaining intelligentsia.

dont you have a library to get to?

what about in the 60's with words like "jive" and others?

I will say -- people will judge you on how you speak.

I am not fond of that, either. Incidentally, I spend a lot of time in the library

I would agree with you, unfortunately we are becoming a society so compartmentalized that you are judged for having a decent vocabulary.

Good point, AD

Only when it is forced. I for one am quite happy to live in an area where all sorts of different cultures are represented. Now I don't want to be denied my own cultural traditions in favor of another, but I do appreciate the variety.

Take food especially. When Italians first came to America, they were looked down on, and their food was thought to be unrefined cuisine, poor man's food, slopped together by "lowly" people. But now today, pizza is as American as apple pie, and Italian cuisine has become a preferred fine dining experience as well.

It was in such a dark age that the English language was born.

Especially if you're black.

"Such a pleasant young man. And Gertrude, did you notice how well he speaks?"