Perhaps there are bigger battles to fight than preserving the sanctity of a language as twisted as English, but I truly feel that the apathy of so many toward this topic is leading to dire consequences that we do not easily foresee. Written language was a necessary development for the progression of civilization. Throughout history the most successful of empires used an official language since it provided a uniformity to its subjects; as we continue in this timeline when the integrity of language broke down the collapse of the government that upheld it was not long after.
A warning which resonates strongly with me was shared by Mosiah when they found the people of Zarahemla, "and their language had become corrupted; and they brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator" (Omni 1:17). I find the order of this verse interesting. It's as though it were a causal relationship between the perversion of the language and their eventual apostasy. I feel that the degradation our language is currently undergoing is a factor that contributes to the decline of our nation.
I realize that the title of this post uses words that are not easily recognized, but I used them to make a point. Language is powerful. Unless people are willing to actively work to confront the corrosion of language, our society will inevitably decline as well. With four words I can summarize the idea that it has taken me four paragraphs to make. Perhaps it's worthwhile for us to pull out a dictionary or thesaurus and do what we can to counter the debasement of English. I'm not advocating that we need to haughtily use difficult words and make those around us feel foolish, but I would like to outline a few things I have noticed that may be of use to others in this cause.
1. Texting - For the longest time I refused to text. Texting is perhaps where the worst infractions in English occur since it is designed to be short; people, therefore, resort to abbreviating words and entire thoughts. In the rare cases where I do text, I take the time to spell out everything and use the appropriate punctuation. Sure it takes a little longer but I have yet to have someone ask me for clarification on any of the messages I have sent.
2. Capitalization - A few years ago, I was dating a girl who lived in Idaho Falls. When she went home for the summer we would keep in touch mostly through email since it was free. It was agonizing for me to get these long messages from her that looked like a single run-on sentence. There was no capitalization, separation of paragraphs or even punctuation. I wasted so much time trying to decipher her writing. In retrospect I can see why we broke up... It is fairly demanding to ask a person to occasionally use the shift key.
3. LOL - It should be fairly obvious by now that I disapprove of these types of acronyms when writing, but it blows my mind when I hear people actually say the acronym. TTYL, L8R, LMAO and WTF (I'm pretty forgiving on that last one though given the alternative). I have heard people actually say these things in conversation. How is this helpful? I think it actually takes more time to verbalize el-eight-ar than it does to say 'later'.
4. Fail - There is a trend now to refer to things considered stupid or wrong as 'fail.' It is actually maddening to listen to someone use this verb as a noun. In the basics of sentence structure you need a noun, a verb and a subject (which can be implied). So when I hear 'That's fail.' I think That = subject, 's = is = verb to be, fail = verb to fail... where is the noun?
5. Vocabulary - This one is not a condemning entry, to the contrary this is where technology is helping. A tool I have found useful is vocabulary building websites. There are many websites that feature a 'Word of the day.' I try to visit one of these a few times a week and incorporate the word into my usage that day. Some words I have kept for future use and some are simply entertaining that day. English can be a very concise language if one has the vocabulary to make it so. Words that are not recognized immediately would be if they were used everyday. Sometimes it is a shame to let these words go to waste.
