Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Falling Words
Okay, so we discused this in class today, that words are being over used and changed because of the text we (students) use them in, like the words "Awsome, Gay, and Epic." I just wanted to know why we use these words this way, instead of saying them for what they really mean? And what do you guys all think about our society today.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I think that society has influenced youth in to using certain words out of context. Take a look at the word gay, movies and tv usually use the word in a negative way and we pick up on that. To say that we are the reason why certain words are falling seems like a bold statement when the influence of media and entertainment causes us to take them out of context in the first place.
Language changes with time. Unlike chatspeak, I see "falling words" as more of a modification of language rather than a degeneration. I agree with Brandie about words changing with culture. Something that comes to mind is when we were reading Othello and we counted the number of times the word "whore" was used. When Othello was performed, the word would have been shocking to hear, but now it's repeated daily at school and on the streets. However, is it really a bad thing that women's rights and mindsets have changed and now we don't need to take a man's word as law (ie, if we're called "whores" or "sluts" we can usually ignore it because we don't need to depend on anyone else's love)?
As for the word "epic", when I started using it it was to overexaggerate something to the point where it seemed beyond any other words. After a while it just became a habit.
I definitely understand how words can change with culture. It doesn't necessarily mean the mean of the word is changed, people just changed it into a slang word. The term "gay" is suppose to mean a homosexual person as well as being merry and happy. But it has now turned into the opposite of what it means and it is a word that you cannot avoid hearing atleast 5 times a day. For the word "epic", I personally never really used that term uhmm.. ever, so I don't really know how people interpret that into context.
Our Society is crumbling faster then a deck of cards.
Its a place where great minds are pushed aside for great scoring averages.
We sacrifice the essential for the luxuries and act blind to avoid the consequences,waiting only until the filth that pumps forth from our filthier society has coated the mirrors to the Rich's vanities and we can no longer choke down our own putrid air.
I agree with mostly everything here. But its mostly just habit that makes these words so oftenly used, they go from one person to the next, all because someone was bored of a certain describing word. Or if they are immature, they wanted their "own word" to be unique. But in my case, i like to use words like that for everyday purposes because its much better than saying "nice shoes!". I'd rather meke the person seem more excited about those shoes by saying "awesome shoes!". It also brings more life to everything i think.
I really think it's just a course of what's happening with time. I don't think it's at all a degeneration or the crumbling of society. The English in Shakespeare's time is a lot different than our English today. And that doesn't mean that our society is worse than it was during Shakespeare's time. The English in maybe one hundred years will be much different than it is now.
Post a Comment