Words

[anthson]

So, discussion in another thread hit the off-topic path of words and language, centering around the (non)word irregardless. Someone actually linked to dictionary.com because the word is there and that fact apparently makes it legitimate. They forgot to scroll down and read this, I guess:

Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

Okay, words get invented all the time. "Google" is now a verb. "Unibrow" is now a noun. I'm down with that. But when society takes existing words and mutates them into something incorrect or completely contradictory ... don't we have a problem? More examples: Backwards, forwards, anyways. Another recent trend is adding S to the end of any word you can get your tongue on.

In George Orwell's literary masterpiece 1984, one of the main character's friends explains the genius of the Newspeak language (if you don't know about Newspeak, read up at wikipedia. Better yet, get the book. It's fiction, but so very important). See, by the government controlling the schools and the official language of the nation, they were in the process of removing words and thereby decreasing the public's ability to communicate. Why is this neccessary? Beacause a free-thinking public is dangerous (see also: thoughtcrime). How do you even have the idea of freedom if you don't have a word for it in your language? Even if you can grasp the idea, you certainly can't communicate it to others around you.

Now, I admit "anyways" and "irregardless" aren't gigantic huge threats. I see them, though, as a trend in the dillution of the English language and subsequently the thinking process of the average English-speaker (primarily just Americans). I see this every day because high school kids send in utter CRAP to my newspaper, expect it to be published, and demand all 107 words of it be given a byline. These are juniors and seniors in a highly-rated high school in a school district that has had an exemplary-status elementary school several of the past few years. Their sports motto is "Practice Winning Everyday." They've spent hudreds of dollars printing this slogans on all kinds of athletic program shirts, football fields, and gigantic school banners. It's a monumental blunder they continue to perpetuate annually.

How long is it before we lose our ability to communicate clearly with one another? Am I just being paranoid?