Language is slipping :(

Sadly I have noticed that the English language is starting to become obsolete in the wake of ebonics (black people who are too damn lazy to speak right) and slang terms and shortened words (See Kyeruu' posts for this example). This frightens me a lot because I don't want to type like kyeruu or ailis and I don't want to speak like some dumbass who lives in the poor part of a big city.

Somebody please save humanity...PLEASE!

In all seriousness though we need to take action against this I don't want the Gideon incident again...

In before MJ.

But I've never had a problem with how people speak. Each person has their own way of typing though.

We should do like the French and make laws to regulate what words can be used in music and TV, and websites hosted in our country, and . . . yeah right.

Well language like Kyeruu's is only on the net really, people just don't talk like that in the real world, for the most part.

As for ebonics, like Grav said, most black people (and some white people) are quite capable at speaking normal english but chose not too. They have that freedom in America.

EDIT: Just an added note, I'm more worried about hispanics myself. More and more come here every day, and more and more Americans are forced to learn spanish so businesses can get that consumer base. Before long, everyone in America will speak spanish because it will be majority hispanic(if it isn't already, I don't know the numbers all that well.)

Exactly. I've had a number of people come into the store speaking only Spanish and I only tell them I don't speak Spanish.

Yes I hate the fact that we have to learn another countries language even though WE aren't the ones moving, they are thus they should our language.

BTW half of the words you normally use today are french words due to the fact that the normans took over england and forced people to use french.

Examples: William is really a Norman(French) word. Hatchet is a french word. I could go on but since about 60% of our language is a type of french it would take too long.

They didn't "force" people to use French.

After William the Conqueror became King the language used in official things such as court proceedings was French. The rest of the English spoke English.

I could go on but since about 60% of our language is a type of french it would take too long.

half of the words you normally use today are french words

Not really half. English has over a million words (compared to a few ten-thousand words such as French and German) - the majority of them taken from other languages, not just French.

The original Celts had their own language (probably Gaelic, as Scotland and Wales - where they were forced by the Romans - traditionally speak Gaelic).

Then the Romans swaggered over, and had everything official done in Latin.

Then the Saxons came over, and the Vikings after them. Words such as "cunt" are Germanic words brought over by the Saxons and the Vikings. Many English town and city names are derived from the original Roman, Saxon or Viking names.

The Normans came next, and they brought over French.

Over about 2000-and-a-bit years, English has evolved and grown. Modern day English has words from Latin, the Romantic Languages (such as French) and many from the Germanic languages (like German).

Yeah, uhm, I want to be an English major when I go to college, so I'm quite aware of the evolution of English. I can even read Old English.

Yes I hate the fact that we have to learn another countries language even though WE aren't the ones moving, they are thus they should our language.

The reason for that is business.

Say there's a company whose consumer base is 30% hispanic. They need employees who speak both english and spanish or else they lose 30% of their business. This business is not going to force their customers to learn english, they're going to force their employees to learn spanish.

I haven't the foggiest what this "Gideon Incident" is... but I can say that Chavs can't speak for toffee. It's all:

"Like, in'nit, well 'aaard, y'know, fuckin', yeeeahhhh"

And they actaully write in text speak. You need a dictionary to read one of their essays.

I mangle the English language for fun sometimes...

Last night I yelled EL OH EL! when I found something funny. The people around me started laughing because they knew I spend too much time online.

I usaully yell 'w00t' or 'o noes!' depending on the situation.

And if being cornered and in deep shit, I sometimes scream, 'WTF, 1337 HaXorZ!!!'

And yet I can still speak proper English when need be.

On IM I can see where people, including myself, abbreviate words for the sheer reason they are a mediocre typist, and they want to get their little shout in before the 9 or so people in the chat room go yelling 'MOOOOOSE' and your reply to the above subject is forgotten.

thx