"talking American" program; slang as a valuable part of language

[Educational CyberPlayGround]

Hi Gerald,

I've got a sincere dilemma, sorry it's a little long.

My Dad and Mom were hyper aware of language, and
I was relentlessly tortured over it as I grew up.

I was told not to use the words
"like", "um", or drop the ing off off the end of words.

I was aware of what they considered "sounded nice",
what was "correct" and incorrect pronunciations,
so that there would be no mistake that my speech
would reflect an educated, cultured
person whose spoken language represented "class".
Some folks in my family will still pronounce tomato
like to-mah-to.

If I used slang in front of them it meant
punishment, i'm not kidding, it was brutal.
This is probably why i curse every other word no
matter who i'm talking to, no matter where i am.

I grew up knowing that there was going to be
judgements made about a person from the
words they used and how they were pronounced,
and that this would matter for navigating everything in life.

I was taught - that what i found in a dictionary
was correct, these were
standard english words, the language of commerce,
and culture and the only ones worth knowing.

I can assure you I was taught that
  "culture" wasn't considered something
important when it came from the street,
ex: street fashion, music, language

What was going on here was who shared a
common value system,
exactly who is and who is not considered a cultured,
educated person.

Knowing what was correct showed that you cared
about the education, (in the classical sense)
that an education was the
most important goal.
This was the only goal that reflected
well on you, not how much money you made, or how
famous you were. What you contributed to
the world was the goal.

John Simon like my parents would
probably think that . .
slang comes from the lower class, but they would
have thought the study of language a scholarly activity.
They would not however think that just because you
documented a slang word that it would
then become a "worthy" word.

Worthy words are the legitimate words used by society,
found in the dictionary and on the SAT. These are the words
getting you into or keeping you out of college.
Only real and worthy words are
valued by educated, cultured people.

I imagine Mr. Simon
is saying that legitimizing slang will erode culture
because no matter what this isn't going to be found
on the SAT and used by a cultured class of people.

Slang used appropriately is still slang right?
It still won't be on the SAT's even if you see
it in the newspaper.

How do you reconcile the ugly issue underneath
John Simon's point?

Slang words which aren't in a dictionary
and not on the SAT, strike at the ideas of
Racisim, Class, Culture, and Commerce . . .
this is the dilemma.

I think he feels that folks who
try to give slang some kind of legitimacy
aren't helping society strive toward being
educated but instead promote ignorance
which means erosion of culture.

  >>"the curse of their race."<<

I'm know i'm not good at expressing myself, sorry,
it's honestly difficult to explain this. i just don't
seem to be able to resolve
why this makes me so uncomfortable.


best,
karen

><snip>
>   The one discordant note was the comment by critic John Simon that
> descriptivists (i.e, people with any appreciation for slang) are, as best
> I remember, "the curse of their race."
><snip>
>      There's a time and place for everything. Too much of  anything is
> inappropriate. A tool may be used inappropriately, but that's not the
> fault of the tool.. Slang certainly *can* be used appropriately, even in
> seriously written, well-polished articles/newspaper editorials/etc. I've
> often noticed examples of this without bothering to jot down the
> information.  Maybe I should start doing so now (others can join in) and
> sharing the information with ads-l.
>Gerald Cohen