2b or not 2b
Posted 2nd April 2008 at 01:58 PM by Oneword
2b or not 2b
When I was but a teeny, my ambition was to become an archaeologist and discover (re-discover) treasures and civilisations of the past. Dig up – literally and figuratively – the past and dissect the customs, building, etc., of those that went before us.
The great impetus to this was the history of the great men who dug (sorry: excavated) at Ur, Mesopotamia, Troy, the Valley of the Kings, and many, many others.
The Rosetta stone gave the biggest push. Imagine having a stone tablet that provided texts in Greek, amongst others, and thus gave Champollion a real chance of at last translating the hieroglyphics into something understandable today.
This was many years ago, but today I again wish I had another “Rosetta Stone” not to translate another unknown language from the past, but something much more recent.
I am, of course, referring to the “SMS” language used by the youngsters and the not so young to transmit their messages over the ether to their friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and other people within reach.
To the uninitiated it looks like an illiterate dyslexic with only a fragmentary knowledge of the English language is trying to communicate in an unknown language.
Worse than a one-time pad of our friends in the Secret Services around the world or even the old, German Enigma machine of the Second World War.
Takes a real pro to decipher and is, probably, the most secure barrier between the “secrets” of the adolescent and the voices of authority, the parents.
What person over the age of 24 or so will ever understand what is being sent via SMS –unless, of course, they have had a refresher course in “English, how she should not be spoke and spelled”?
It comes as some surprise that the local media seems to be in full support of the mangling of a proud language – while, at the same time, running full-page adverts on the excellence of the educational facilities for those who were unfortunate enough to succumb to the general Namibian Grade 10 malaise and fail their subject miserably.
Apparently the situation is so bad that many prospective employers see a “C “ symbol as being tantamount to excellent for the simple reason that they have never encountered any higher symbols.
I can’t imagine this mangling of the language being terrible conducive to good marks at school either – al least not unless the perpetrators of this crime again the language also have the common sense to read some real books where language, syntax, grammar rules and diction and spelling are not an anathema or a pariah.
I have been told that this is, also, part of democracy and an important outlet to youthful exuberance and that it is an important sub-culture of this 21st century.
Quite possible!
But, is it necessary to always knowingly take the worst or the “in” thing from any sub-sub culture and hold it up as the new “star of excellence”?
‘nuff said
When I was but a teeny, my ambition was to become an archaeologist and discover (re-discover) treasures and civilisations of the past. Dig up – literally and figuratively – the past and dissect the customs, building, etc., of those that went before us.
The great impetus to this was the history of the great men who dug (sorry: excavated) at Ur, Mesopotamia, Troy, the Valley of the Kings, and many, many others.
The Rosetta stone gave the biggest push. Imagine having a stone tablet that provided texts in Greek, amongst others, and thus gave Champollion a real chance of at last translating the hieroglyphics into something understandable today.
This was many years ago, but today I again wish I had another “Rosetta Stone” not to translate another unknown language from the past, but something much more recent.
I am, of course, referring to the “SMS” language used by the youngsters and the not so young to transmit their messages over the ether to their friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and other people within reach.
To the uninitiated it looks like an illiterate dyslexic with only a fragmentary knowledge of the English language is trying to communicate in an unknown language.
Worse than a one-time pad of our friends in the Secret Services around the world or even the old, German Enigma machine of the Second World War.
Takes a real pro to decipher and is, probably, the most secure barrier between the “secrets” of the adolescent and the voices of authority, the parents.
What person over the age of 24 or so will ever understand what is being sent via SMS –unless, of course, they have had a refresher course in “English, how she should not be spoke and spelled”?
It comes as some surprise that the local media seems to be in full support of the mangling of a proud language – while, at the same time, running full-page adverts on the excellence of the educational facilities for those who were unfortunate enough to succumb to the general Namibian Grade 10 malaise and fail their subject miserably.
Apparently the situation is so bad that many prospective employers see a “C “ symbol as being tantamount to excellent for the simple reason that they have never encountered any higher symbols.
I can’t imagine this mangling of the language being terrible conducive to good marks at school either – al least not unless the perpetrators of this crime again the language also have the common sense to read some real books where language, syntax, grammar rules and diction and spelling are not an anathema or a pariah.
I have been told that this is, also, part of democracy and an important outlet to youthful exuberance and that it is an important sub-culture of this 21st century.
Quite possible!
But, is it necessary to always knowingly take the worst or the “in” thing from any sub-sub culture and hold it up as the new “star of excellence”?
‘nuff said
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