LL-L "Language education" 2008.01.08 (05) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  08 January 2008 - Volume 05
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From: Elsie Zinsser <ezinsser at icon.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica" 2008.01.07 (04) [E]

Hi all,

Ron, I was hoping this discussion would be grouped under the subject
'language education'.

Slang within the context of a verbal interchange is acceptable, and
presumably part of a conversation
typical to a certain group (as you have elaborated at length), but surely
not as a written catch phrase
to a TV channel of a public broadcaster.

I think it is the duty of a public broadcaster (who is partly tasked to
serve the need for education) to provide
correct language forms rather than slang (such as 'fo sho' - for sure) in
their programme introductions.

My point was mainly that the majority of TV viewers here are not English
speaking and therefore presenting slang
in written form simply perpetuates poor language learning.

Cheers,

Elsie Zinsser
----------
From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Idiomatica

Elsie,

Of course, as you know, "public broadcasting" is a rare and endangered
animal here in the US, and it is considered relatively "high-brow." Most
broadcasting is in the hand of private enterprise. So let's talk about that.


"What's up" and "Whazzup" as greetings are now commonly heard in casual
broadcasting, though rarely coming from the hosts or moderators, more from
"cool" guest, typically younger males, thus "cool dudes." You'll hear it
more the more "cool"-male-oriented a program is, typically in contexts of
sports and the like. It's a show of "cool" masculinity. "What's up, man,"
"Whazzup, dude," etc. are becoming very common place in casual contexts. Men
don't address women that way, of course, but they will use "What's up" and
"Whazzup" then, which simply means anything like "Hi!", "Hello!", "How do
you do?", "Nice to meet you," etc. You'll hear "What's going on(, dude)?"
also. Mind you: none of these are questions to be answered. And mind you
also: these are displays of masculinity and "cooldudeness" (or is it
"coolduditude"?), would sound strange coming from females and mostly also
coming from older, more "distinguished" males.

•

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