Day: January 26, 2015

Dear Ms Kerr

I agree with your article ‘Twerking, selfie and unlike? Young people don’t speak like that –I should know’. Slang words are just fashionable trends which are constantly changing and adapting.  An example of this is the word ‘groovy’; a slang word that was used in the 1960s. This word has now fallen out of fashion and no longer used in conversation.

I personally think that there is nothing wrong with slang, but like you I believe that slang has no place in the Oxford on-line Dictionary. I believe this because these words are not an accurate representation of all young people. The majority of the younger generation are not obsessed with their image, reputations and sex, as these slang words now included in the dictionary would suggest. Secondly, these words could fall out of fashion and may then become obsolete. I believe that the Oxford on-line Dictionary should only include slang words which have stood the test of time, and therefore become part of the general idiolect. This would allow obsolete slang words like ‘groovy’ to live only in the memory of the generation who used it, thus not restricting the evolution of the English language.

Additionally, people do not say ‘init’, ‘JK’ or ‘LOL’ in a job interview, as they want to make a good impression to their potential employer.  However if the Oxford on-line Dictionary includes these words before they have been accepted by society, it could make the interviewee seem illiterate. Nevertheless this person could be a valuable asset to the company, but as they cannot express themselves to all audiences they could lose the chance to work for the company and stand out from the crowd.

Additionally many young people only speak slang to their friends and not to figures of authority who they respect and trust. Slang is a form of jargon between youths and their friends when they talk, text or use social media. They are using slang words on these platforms for quickness and so older generations do not know what they are saying; lol!

As you mentioned in your article Shakespeare would be turning in his grave as, although It could also be argued that Shakespeare was the greatest inventor of slang, as he created hundreds of new words like ‘sanctimonious’ and ‘assassination’ for his plays. These words created by Shakespeare are used to further a person’s understanding of the world they live in. At first these words were unfamiliar, causing people to condemn them. But over time these words have become accepted and have earned their place in the English language. It has taken generations of people using these words before they became acceptable.  I believe the same will eventually happen to some slang words but hopefully not any abbreviated ones. But unlike Shakespeare, my generations is not creating imaginative new words to further our understanding of the world, it is just shortening perfectly good words.

Seriously there is really no need to shorten ‘seriously’ to ‘Srsly’. If you are going to revolutionise the English language at least be original and not alter the already eloquent English language.

yours faithfully

Samuel Garner

The hawk perched at the top of a tall oak tree, listening to the gentle breeze. His hooked feet were clutching the branch. The hawk was still, merging into the background. No danger was around but the hawk was always ready to become a blur of motion if anything stirred. The inaction was boring the hawk and he began to dream.

While the hawk dreamed he rehearsed perfect kills and the feast afterwards. The hawk dreamed of past glories, near misses and most of all the thrill of the hunt. The thrill was a drug to the hawk it became all he thought about and what every centimetre of his feathered body craved. The thrill kept him going and sustained his otherwise monotonous life and was the only reason he was prepared to wait.

Without warning there was a slight rustle in the long grass at the bottom of the tall oak, which stirred the hawk from his dreams, it was time to hunt. The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray gave the hawk a huge advantage over its unsuspecting prey. It was as if the earth’s faces were made for the hawk to inspect as a sergeant inspecting those under his command. The hawk took off with all the eloquence of a ballet dance and the skill of a gymnast. The hawk’s flight was a marvel to watch as every inch of the hawk’s body was sensing the air currents, reading the signs and slowly preparing for the kill. Silence is the hawk’s best friend as it allows him to sneak up on many an unsuspecting mouse.

Where the sound originated, the silent menace circled, his eyes penetrating the grass like a knife through butter. The hawk was scanning for the mouse that had initiated the chase, adrenalin coursing through the hawk’s veins increasing the thrill.  It took the whole of creation to produce this perfect killer; from his foot to each individual feather. The hawk swiftly snatched up the creature between its talons and flew up. As the hawk flew the mouse began struggling with all of its might against the power of the hawk, trying to survive just that bit longer, clinging to its life. The hawk continued its feat of strength, flying to any place it wants in order to kill the poor creature in its clutches; because the whole world was his.

There was no sophistry in the hawk’s powerful body, tearing off the mouse’s delicate head. Blood was spilling everywhere. The hawk is the allotment of death and his flight was a path directly through the bones of the living, and into the nightmares of infants. His talons alone were enough to strike immense fear into the hearts of mice and men alike.  The hawk is the stuff nightmares are made of and no animal alive can assert that right. Hunting and killing was what the hawk was bred for.

The hawk returned back to the same branch, satisfied with the hunt. He was no longer hungry, sensed no danger, and began to dream again.