Our Evolving Language

I recently realized that my blogging programs have an alerting system when I misspell a word and allows me the option of picking the correct option for the correct word's spelling as it would do if I were typing my thoughts on a Word document. Yay!!!

I am not sure if it has something to do with my computer updates or if my blog hosting site improved this feature, but I am loving it! Boy is this overdue.

I once came in second place in a spelling bee contest in middle school, so guess what?   I never won any awards in spelling... This automatic spell check will come in handier than a pant pocket.

Grammar is a whole other beast. I remember most of the rules, but everyone else keep breaking them around me.   So I have come to realize that this holds true to the theory, "If you don't use it, you lose it."

Does it matter?  Well to some people in today's society, this post has already gone on for too long so maybe it doesn't matter. If you understand it, it's permissible.  

With the introduction of technology, shorter attention spans (9 seconds according to Sally Hogshead's research), text messaging and instant messaging, we abbreviate and code name everything we can. It's changing the way we communicate with each other and the concept of the written text with the integration of colloquial language. Heck, this is probably why we still don't use Emily Dickens' English, Shakespeare's English (1564 -1616) and even the English used in old Hollywood movies around the 1930's. For us, there is a separation of connection with the times in which they thrived, but there is always that human emotional bond that keeps us fascinated and makes for good reading.

In other words, if a person using English has a limited number of words, but uses those words in every tangent of the word, with ingenuity and / or the foundation of a good story to tell, could keep you in blissful imagination for as long as you wanted to escape.

For instance in Shakespeare's time there were only about 228,000 words in the English language.  It is estimated that Shakespeare invented approximately 1,700 words... or that these words were used by him for the first time in written text.  Wow!

According to the Global Language Monitor there were an estimated 1,019,729.6 as of January 1, 2013 and approximately 14.7 words are being added to the dictionary every 98 minutes.

Your mind has just been blown, or you are probably thinking, "Duh?" Either which way, that is probably the subject for another post (with spellcheck! YAY!) But what the true message here is that this is a way that YOU, your children, and just about anyone... just by interacting and communicating in society can make an impact on tomorrow. Let's make it a good tomorrow... if we CAN.

*note, any of the facts that I do not provide links to are subject to approximate interpretation after researching many sites, which some links unfortunately do not exist any more.  (Pour some of your drink on the ground for the HOMIE sites that are no longer with us.)