The English language is being destroyed by e-mail, instant messaging, and popular song lyrics. This may not cause any concern for the vast majority of humans but it does for this one. I find the perversion of the language appalling. My offical title is "English Teacher" but I have long believed that I am a teacher of communication. As I see it, my job is to help young people learn how to communicate better in their writing, their speaking, and their reading.

My grandfather taught Spanish at the University of Wisconsin. He came from Russia and learned English perfectly in less than 3 years, later adding Spanish, French, Italian, and Hebrew into his language pallet. The man loved words and ideas, he loved etymology and the origins of communication techniques. It was not until recently that I discovered how much of his passions I share. English appeals to me for a myriad of reasons, far too boring to list here. However, the one reason I will share has to do with how words, the expression of thoughts and ideas and emotions, influence those who hear them. A word said one way can bring tears, said another can elicit pails of laughter. The accent, the emphasis one places on a word is dependent upon tongue placement; that is, the way a word sounds coming out of your mouth depends on what part of your mouth your tongue pushes off of. A single word or group of words can destroy a person, an idea, a situation, all because we used a particular part of our mouths. Unlike my grandfather I am not interested in the etymology of words. Instead I am fascinated by the impact the spoken and written word has on people and to a larger extent, the world. The way we communicate, be it by our words, our eyes, our hands, our body positioning, or anything else, is how we relate to the world. It determines how we are perceived and how we perceive others. A large reason people watch films and listen to music and read books is because the words they see and hear move them, create a stiring.

As e-mail and instant messaging have thrived so has the proliferation of a language shorthand. Abbreviations and misspellings have become commonplace as spellchecking programs remain highly fallible. Why bother writing a complete thought in the form of a complete sentence when a few disjointed letters will convey the same sentiments in more than half the time? No one reads and no one writes and everyone uses words like, "cool" and "whatever" to mean virtually all that they say. We speak differently than we write, but not in e-mail, where it has become acceptable to ignore all grammar conventions like capitalization and punctuation. Years ago people took the time and thought to write letters long hand, an art form that now could be placed on the endangered species list. Perhaps most disturbing is the societal trend to deemphasize speaking correctly to function in society. Schools were formed to prepare young people to be active members of the work force, meaning they had to have a certain knowledge base and certain skills to graduate school, find work, and be a "responsible member" of society. Today, young people are entering the work force, also known as the "real world," less prepared with less skills and less knowledge. They sound dumber when they speak and write. They have trouble expressing thoughts coherently in interviews and presenting themselves in positive lights. I'm not making this up. I have spoken to several business people in the community where I teach and have heard similar sentiments expressed across the board.

I'm losing my focus and going off on rants. Music is also killing the language because people have adopted what they listen to into their vocabulary. Poets and muscians often have taken liberties with language conventions when it helps them express a certain point or create a certain mood and/or tone to their work. I have no problem with that. However, what has happened in the last 10-15 years is that these liberties, cutting off words, changing their spellings, using euphimisms, etc., have found their way into the American lexicon. An example I see every day is the spread of Ebonics. Through the popularity of hip-hop culture and its affect on other genres, the grammar of Ebonics has influenced a generation of young people. Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, and every other ethnicity is affected by this. "He be goin' to the store. That be funny." I hear this all day long and its part of my job to teach Standard English, so I must correct what I hear. My powers as an 8th grade teacher are limited, however, and it is a losing battle.

The English language is dying, but more importantly, our ways of communicating are eroding. Perhaps this is natural. Perhaps I am simply being melodramatic and crazy and this is simply another evolution of language that occurs to every generation over time. Or perhaps we are losing a basic quality that defines our humanity.