Language as a Blunt Tool of the Digital Age

[Francis Hult]

New York Times

 

Language as a Blunt Tool of the Digital Age

 

We are all linguistic utilitarians now. At work and home, in person and on our devices, function rules and form pales. Capitalization, commas, full sentences, the writing of words without numbers in them, the avoidance of jargon and mixed metaphors - these norms are suffering, unable to persuade multitaskers of their worth.

 

Of course, anxiety about language is very old. When technologies turn, when new social groups rise, when politics change, critics predict the end of literacy. George Orwell, in a seminal essay in 1946, warned that pretentious diction and meaningless words and other bad habits were corroding politics. He criticized the belief "that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light."

 

Full story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/world/americas/16iht-currents.html

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/edling/attachments/20100116/2250969d/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
Edling mailing list
Edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu
https://lists.sis.utsa.edu/mailman/listinfo/edling
List Manager: Francis M. Hult