My father gained an education totally
through his own efforts. His mother had never (to the best of my knowledge)
worked. His father died when he was 2 and his older siblings were placed in a
children's home. Life was hard for him but he grabbed at education and used it
as a lifeline. He loved reading and introduced me to Charles Dickens at the age
of 7. He encouraged me to have a vast
vocabulary. We would vie to find new words every day. Of course he always won!
We listened (no TV then!) to programs that challenged the use of English. One
of our favourites was "My Word". The talents of Frank Muir and Denis
Nordon are legendary. We loved playing with words – puns and double entendre
being firm favourites.
He hated it when people used swearing as an
adjective. He maintained that swearing was a sign of a poor command of the
English language. I shudder to think what he would say to the "new"
means of communication. Being an ex-teacher I have many young people as
Facebook friends. I am amused by some of the abbreviations and emoticons that
are used but things are getting out of hand now. The following are sections of
posts from these kids!
"dna weda to luv
it coz …"
"u knw y im … "
"ncooh u guys luk …"
What on earth…? Look guys I love you but I
would really like to understand what you are saying! We taught (tut?) you (u?)
English (nglsh?) at school (skul?) please use it! It IS a beautiful language!
Okay so that is not the worst of it. I am
now working for my publisher and now and then I have to type stories that
children have written. Sometimes I wonder if I strayed into a foreign language.
Once I nearly considered going for medical help as I had heard it was a symptom
of a stroke if you couldn't understand what you were reading! Fortunately wiser
counsels prevailed and I realised it is just the new "speak".
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