Amidst a sea of rallying politicians, and bombardments of political campaign ads, and with the election phase slowly rolling to a halt, I have chosen to focus on something (relatively) minor; the grammatical issues that today's humans repeat in speech day to day.
Take a word that we are all familiar with; the word "like." How often do you use it? Think about that to yourself. No, you most likely do not use it in composition, but if you look at the people around you I can guarantee that they will use the word "like" at least once in their next three sentences. It has become a global issue that we can't seem to eradicate. Some were brought up with the word, some grew into using it, some just found it convenient to be similar to their co-workers and implement it into their speech.
Now, most likely, you will not have a problem with this. In fact, you might even ask yourself why you are still reading. But I will continue. We'll get back to this later.
Let's stray from that, and move to a larger issue: tech-speak, as I call it. Mainly, this is the collection of acronyms and abbreviations that were generated due to the 160-character limit per text on your cell phone. For example; txt, lol, rofl, wtf, g2g. The list goes on and new ones are being created each day. Twitter is even less lenient than the text network, allowing only 140 characters (the other 20 are for the tweeter's unique name) per tweet.
So what is the point? We need to try to stop this method of communication from leaking into face-to-face speech. Which brings back the "like" reference. Try to find a way to get it out of your head, don't fall into the language trap!
If you have an issue with speaking the noun/adjective/verb/prefix "like," try to substitute the word if you consciously know when you will use it. "For example," "similar to," "as if," and just a pause in speech provide sufficient replacement for "like," "like," "like," and "like." Like, duh.
Also try to avoid using the onomatopoeia "umm" too often. That just makes you sound unprofessional and silly. If you are just a schoolchild, it makes you sound as if you are desperate for your mother, calling "umm...umm...umm" recursively. Remember, speech is about getting your point across efficiently, not speaking as a duck would quack.
Note: Most people who have issues similar to the above listed will most likely not be reading this blog. Feel free to share my findings with them!
Lastly, try not to excessively use tech-speak. It get annoying after a while. Do you lol from every joke? No. Most likely, you are lqtm'ing (laugh quietly to myself), or as real English-speakers would say, chuckling.
Think about the definition of the word before you use it. If you have time, or room, use the full phrase.
If you speak in sign-language or in Morse code, do not bother applying any above-stated rules to yourself, for speaking with tongue is not for you. If you speak in Braille, then God bless you, you are a very unique person and deserve an award.
Heed or ignore my words, but keep them in mind.
This is Nathaniel Rowe, signing off.
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