Random annoyance at modern colloquial language.

[matthyaouw]

If I say to the average something is s**t, it is bad, however if I say it is the s**t, then it is good.

Am I the only one who sees little or no sense in this?
In summary, the language of kids today is terrible.


yours relentlessly,
Mattypoo
xxx

 

[Ivan Seeking]

While in college I was impressed with an essay by Orwell...I think called "The Importance of Speaking Correctly". I didn't spot the essay online but this article addresses similar ideas. Obviously this all ties into Orwell's newspeak and 1984.

http://i2i.org/article.aspx?ID=378

Trivia: Why 1984? It was written in 1948; nothing deeper than that.

 

[dduardo]

There was a southpark espisode about this. They even counted the number of times they said ****.

 

[the number 42]

the language of kids today is terrible.

Are you using "random" in... (*gulp*)... a colloquial sense? Otherwise I have to take it that when you hear colloquialisms, you may or may not become annoyed based on non-sequential thought processes. Or do you throw a dice and if its a six or a one you will decide to become annoyed? This is intruguing.

 

[meowxorz]

Yeah, the way some people talk these days confuses me, and I'm supposed to be "one of them."

The worst I've encountered is when someone says something is "sick," meaning, "something entirely unrelated to, and quite the opposite of, sick."

Recently when I got a piercing I showed it to a friend and they chose "Sick!" as their response. I was beginning to become offended when I realized, "Oh, wait. Those crazy kids! Ha ha!"

 

[Gokul43201]

I think he meant : Randomly sparked decision to voice annoyance at modern colloquial language - it's an elliptic usage.

I personally don't have an objection to "this is the $#!t" meaning the opposite of "this is $#!t". However, I find the overusage of "as hell" a little irksome. It's okay for it to be "hot as hell", but to also say that something is "cold as hell" is just a tad bit bothersome. Usage like "dirty as hell" or "scary as hell" are okay, but what's the sense in "loud as hell" or "funny as hell" ?

 

[Jake]

It's because of alternate meanings via context sensitivity which humans are quite adept at but the real question is what was the causation for "sh*t" to ever be used in a positive sense?

 

[Gokul43201]

...but the real question is what was the causation for "sh*t" to ever be used in a positive sense?

I don't see that in this usage "sh*t", by itself, carries a positive connotation. I think this is merely an elliptic usage for "this is the real sh*t" (as in, the real McCoy), where "sh*t" is simply used for "thing".

 

[mattmns]

us kids today are too lazy to expand our vocabulary, so, instead, we re arrange or re use words that we already know, to change the meaning

 

[matthyaouw]

I find the overusage of "as hell" a little irksome. It's okay for it to be "hot as hell", but to also say that something is "cold as hell" is just a tad bit bothersome. Usage like "dirty as hell" or "scary as hell" are okay, but what's the sense in "loud as hell" or "funny as hell" ?

The temperatures of the different parts of Hell vary greatly depending precisely on which circle you reside in, and has for funny as hell: How much do you suppose you will be laughing as you sit in heaven watching the guy who bullied you in high school rotating slowly on a spit being jabbed by a demon, and being deafened by the loud screams of those suffering around him?

Are you using "random" in... (*gulp*)... a colloquial sense? Otherwise I have to take it that when you hear colloquialisms, you may or may not become annoyed based on non-sequential thought processes. Or do you throw a dice and if its a six or a one you will decide to become annoyed? This is intruguing.

I have many annoyances regarding the English language, and chose one more or less at random, or at least as much as possible without the use of dice or a table of random numbers.

 

[Evo]

The same thing is true of the word "bad". It can be used both negatively and positively in slang.

 

[Moonbear]

I personally don't have an objection to "this is the $#!t" meaning the opposite of "this is $#!t". However, I find the overusage of "as hell" a little irksome. It's okay for it to be "hot as hell", but to also say that something is "cold as hell" is just a tad bit bothersome. Usage like "dirty as hell" or "scary as hell" are okay, but what's the sense in "loud as hell" or "funny as hell" ?

"Cold as Hell" must refer to Hell, MI. It's definitely cold there, and dirty, and scary. Nothing funny or loud about the place though, other than all three or so buildings in the town are painted with flames on them. Though, it's an interesting change in the language, a shift from using superlatives to using similes as superlatives. Though, of course we all know the appropriate simile to use to emphasize cold is, "Cold as a witch's t**."

I don't care if kids have their own lingo, every generation does, but what bothers me is that they are failing to learn proper English as well. One of my pet peeves with this generation is lack of capitalization of words, especially at the beginning of sentences. Is it really all that difficult to hit the "shift" key on the keyboard?

 

[Integral]

I dislike the web appreviations: u 4 gr8 type of stuff. I find it very hard to respond postivily to any post that displays this form of what I consider simply lazyness.

 

[meowxorz]

One of my pet peeves with this generation is lack of capitalization of words, especially at the beginning of sentences. Is it really all that difficult to hit the "shift" key on the keyboard?

Heh, that's one of mine as well. I mean, I won't ever harass someone about it, because you always get the same stupid argument: "duhrr i am just chattin not writing engilsh paper lolz" And I guess as long as you can at least understand the person, there's no reason to make a big deal of it...

But of course, that doesn't mean it makes it any less sad... why WOULDN'T someone want to care about the very language they speak? Communication is extremely important, and especially on the Internet, where the method is primarily through WRITING.

 

[mattmns]

I don't care if kids have their own lingo, every generation does, but what bothers me is that they are failing to learn proper English as well. One of my pet peeves with this generation is lack of capitalization of words, especially at the beginning of sentences. Is it really all that difficult to hit the "shift" key on the keyboard?

it is not that difficult. I think it is not that important to capatalize the first letter of each sentence while speaking informally. that is why I only capitalize the first word of each sentence when I want to be taken seriously lol.

I think the reason, this may seem blatant, that many kids do not capitalize the first word of each sentence is because it is a waste of time. There is a big difference between written and oral English. When talking to a friend you are probably quite informal, but when you are writing, on these boards for example, you probably try to be as formal as possible. Formal English has too many rules. Jupiter is larger than any planet in our solar system. If I were to tell you that, you would probably agree; however, the sentence is wrong! Jupiter cannot be larger than itself. The correction is, of course: Jupiter is larger than any other planet in our solar system. Because very few people, none that I know, speak formal English there is no desire, or even need, to learn it. Now this is where the problem is created. Many kids spend time typing to their friends on aim, yahoo, icq, or whatever, this leads to very informal English, and then when they write on a forum they are, sometimes, very hard to understand. Now that I have completely drifted away from the subject, and have no clue what I am talking about anymore, I will have to end my post here:

 

[Zeteg]

I completely agree that language is important. Here are some more recent examples, that I've heard from peers.

"That's sick!" - I guess it was said before, but I couldn't catch the clear meaning of it. About three or four months ago, "That's sick!" meant, "That's horrible". Now, it means, "That's awesome!"

"Just joshing" - Okay, I'm completely stumped on how someone could come up with this phrase. Apparently it means that they're joking.

"Well -vs- Good" - This is the most common one that I find, and probably the second most annoying. When I'm outside and social, I correct at least one person a day on this. Sometimes it's strangers, sometimes it's people I know. "I did good on that test." You'd think after I yell "WELL! YOU DID WELL ON THAT TEST." They'd realize they have the change. The sad part is, my first language isn't even English, and I'm correcting them.

"im gansta" - This is probably the most annoying one. I can't get over how stupid these morons are. I walk around my school, and you can't go across the main hallway without morons saying it. Apparently now it means that they're cool. Someone please tell me how 'ganstas' are cool. Actually, if anyone wants a laugh, feel free to download this: http://brpg.japf.co.uk/zeteg/gangster.mp3 .

While I can go on for quite some time talking about the deformalities of speech found in 'ganstas' I'll leave it at that.

Not all kids speak poorly. While the majority of kids these days do, there are still the few that respect themselves.

 

[Chi Meson]

Well, I liked that bit about Jupiter. I never knew that! And who the heck is "lol"?

 

[Zeteg]

Well, I liked that bit about Jupiter. I never knew that! And who the heck is "lol"?

Lol = Abbreviated "Laughing out loud", or in a more modern contect, "I think it's funny."

I often use abbreviations a lot, seeing as typing, "hahahaha" doesn't exactly convey a very "friendly" messenge. It's more or less the same thing of saying "okay", or "okies" instead of "O.K." In the previous example, one would sound less sarcastic.

Now, whenever someone speaks horrible English to me, I respond using the AOL-12-year-old translator.

 

[mattmns]

And who the heck is "lol"?

that is why I only capitalize the first word of each sentence when I want to be taken seriously lol.

Woops! My mistake. What I meant to say was: that is why I only capitalize the first word of each sentence when I want to be taken seriously. lol

As for who is "lol?"

I guess I should have used "" instead. Which brings up another issue. Do you all find these smilies, when used, annoying?

I don't. I think its all a part of the fun that we call the |nt3rn3t

 

[Jake]

I don't see that in this usage "sh*t", by itself, carries a positive connotation. I think this is merely an elliptic usage for "this is the real sh*t" (as in, the real McCoy), where "sh*t" is simply used for "thing".

That's semantics to me. I'm just saying that when someone says "thats the sh*t", they mean that it's good, and yes "sh*t" is just the "thing", but why on Earth use "sh*t" for that? It didn't just get there randomly, somehow it was either consciously or unconsciously put there and to me that's a curiousity.

 

[Moonbear]

That's semantics to me. I'm just saying that when someone says "thats the sh*t", they mean that it's good, and yes "sh*t" is just the "thing", but why on Earth use "sh*t" for that? It didn't just get there randomly, somehow it was either consciously or unconsciously put there and to me that's a curiousity.

Hmm, interesting question. Just what was that first person who used the phrase "the sh*t" to mean something good thinking when they chose those words? Do these things start as inside jokes somewhere that catch on and spread as something they were never meant to be?

 

[Smurf]

Hmm, interesting question. Just what was that first person who used the phrase "the sh*t" to mean something good thinking when they chose those words? Do these things start as inside jokes somewhere that catch on and spread as something they were never meant to be?

So it's kind of like democracy then?

 

[Mk]

I dislike the web appreviations: u 4 gr8 type of stuff. I find it very hard to respond postivily to any post that displays this form of what I consider simply lazyness.

Ha, ha, everytime I see someone do that I twitch (not literaly)

Woops! My mistake. What I meant to say was: that is why I only capitalize the first word of each sentence when I want to be taken seriously. lol

Ha, I twitched when you didn't capitalize "that."

I guess I should have used "" instead. Which brings up another issue. Do you all find these smilies, when used, annoying?

Nah, Its not annoying if you use less than 10 per post/IM

I respond using the AOL-12-year-old translator.

http://ssshotaru.homestead.com/files/aolertranslator.html

"im gansta" - This is probably the most annoying one. I can't get over how stupid these morons are. I walk around my school, and you can't go across the main hallway without morons saying it. Apparently now it means that they're cool. Someone please tell me how 'ganstas' are cool. Actually, if anyone wants a laugh, feel free to download this: http://brpg.japf.co.uk/zeteg/gangster.mp3 .

While I can go on for quite some time talking about the deformalities of speech found in 'ganstas' I'll leave it at that.

Not all kids speak poorly. While the majority of kids these days do, there are still the few that respect themselves.

Actually how I know it is "Ima gangsta" or just "gangsta," though in different regions of the world there are diffrent variations.
Sí, not all kids speak poorly, we should make the "LOGWRS," Legion of Guys Who Respect Themselves, or Legion of Gangstas Who Respect Themselves

"Cold as Hell" must refer to Hell, MI. It's definitely cold there, and dirty, and scary. Nothing funny or loud about the place though, other than all three or so buildings in the town are painted with flames on them.

I don't care if kids have their own lingo, every generation does, but what bothers me is that they are failing to learn proper English as well. One of my pet peeves with this generation is lack of capitalization of words, especially at the beginning of sentences. Is it really all that difficult to hit the "shift" key on the keyboard?

Nah, I don't care either, yet I fail to think that proper English is not know, it is, just not used. Did I mention the twitching?

The same thing is true of the word "bad". It can be used both negatively and positively in slang.

Evo! Your avatar makes me want to take a wreath and do the same as featured.

 

[Chi Meson]

Lol = Abbreviated "Laughing out loud", or in a more modern contect, "I think it's funny."

Umm. Joking, Joking. After a while, you'll see that my jokes are distinguished by the remarkable absence of anything funny. ROFLOLPIMP.

 

[Moonbear]

Nah, I don't care either, yet I fail to think that proper English is not know, it is, just not used. Did I mention the twitching?

My view of it is that if they knew English well, using it correctly would be second nature, thus it wouldn't require any effort to do so. The most common excuse I hear for poor English online is, "This isn't for a term paper." To me, that implies they have to work at using correct English. None of us is perfect online because we are being conversational and not taking time to proofread, but when I see posts where nothing is capitalized or punctuated, I sometimes have to just pass over them due to their complete incoherency.

 

[tribdog]

I hate when people say anyways
I used to say anyways, then I worked with a girl who would say "Anyways? Anyways? Anyways?" everytime I said it. It was irritating, but now I say anyway.

 

[the number 42]

Guys, this is much ado about bugger all. If the English language never changed we'd still be speaking in Medieval English or summink. I really look forward to the day when my kids say to me 'Dad, you are so SICK', and really mean it in a modern way.

 

[Evo]

My pet peeves are the following slang words. It's tolerable if you're joking around, but I actually see people using these words in serious discussions.

gonna
wanna
could of
would of

AAAAGHHHH!

 

[tribdog]

Somewhere I saw a guy use the word "freakin'" in a business meeting. I think it was some reality show.

 

[matthyaouw]

One of my pet peeves with this generation is lack of capitalization of words, especially at the beginning of sentences. Is it really all that difficult to hit the "shift" key on the keyboard?

I think that autocorrect on word processing software is at least partially to blame for this, along with careless use of apostrphes (a pet peeve of my own) and minor mis-spellings. Open Word, type a simple paragraph with some deliberate mistakes and count how many you have to go back and correct yourself- I'd guess very few. I learned to type largely using MS word, and found myself using the shift key and the apostrophe key increasingly little, as there was not the need to, which meant when I began browsing forums and using MSN messenger, my typing was frankly quite terrible.

 

[Gokul43201]

My pet peeves are the following slang words. It's tolerable if you're joking around, but I actually see people using these words in serious discussions.

gonna
wanna
could of
would of

AAAAGHHHH!

I really don't understand the "could of", "would of", "should of" phenomenon. Is this now considered acceptable English ? I've only noticed it here on PF (as I don't visit any other forums) and I find it used by some members who use no other form of slang or colloquialism.

 

[Moonbear]

I think that autocorrect on word processing software is at least partially to blame for this, along with careless use of apostrphes (a pet peeve of my own) and minor mis-spellings. Open Word, type a simple paragraph with some deliberate mistakes and count how many you have to go back and correct yourself- I'd guess very few. I learned to type largely using MS word, and found myself using the shift key and the apostrophe key increasingly little, as there was not the need to, which meant when I began browsing forums and using MSN messenger, my typing was frankly quite terrible.

I turned auto-correct off. It was annoying. When I'm using standard abbreviations for hormones and brain regions, I need to mix capitals and lowercase letters in atypical orders, and it kept changing those to all lowercase on me. It also would get confusing when I'd automatically backspace to correct things like "teh" instead of "the" and the autocorrect was fighting me to do it itself. The only thing I let autocorrect do now is to change a few keystrokes into symbols so I don't have to keep mousing (am I allowed to use mouse as a verb?) to the menu to insert greek letters.

 

[Moonbear]

I really don't understand the "could of", "would of", "should of" phenomenon. Is this now considered acceptable English ? I've only noticed it here on PF (as I don't visit any other forums) and I find it used by some members who use no other form of slang or colloquialism.

That's actually and old and quite common mistake in writing. We say "would've" and they hear "would of." We can't blame the current generation for starting that one.

 

[ray b]

english, or should we now use "american english'',
is an alive, growing, mongrel, mess
that has roots in many different tongues
with bazaar rules that lack rhyme or reason

the kids on the net have invented a more usefull shorthand version
I feel no need to use 18th century formal english
and feel the teaching of it is a huge waste of time
and english majors the most useless form of life

 

[Zeteg]

Guys, this is much ado about bugger all. If the English language never changed we'd still be speaking in Medieval English or summink. I really look forward to the day when my kids say to me 'Dad, you are so SICK', and really mean it in a modern way.

Good luck. Children don't tell their parents they're cool... Well, maybe at young ages they do, I guess. Here's some tips, comming from me =)

- Don't ask about their day at school (You'll only get a "Good." or something, even if you do it).
- Don't ask why they're late, if they're a couple of hours late.
- Don't pester them to call whenever they reach their desired destination.
- Help them out when they're buying Christmas gifts for friends, especially if they've got someone they really like :)
- Give them some trust. I believe kids which don't have parental trust seem to go into bad stuff more often.
- Try and explore their interest of music. At the very least, don't tell them that it sucks.


As for the part about the old English, I wouldn't mind at all. I find it's a lot easier to project my voice in old English anyway. There seems to be a lot less sarcasm in old English. As my CALM teacher would say, "COMMUNICATION ROADBLOCK".