Millennial English: Language reformation or a linguistic trauma?

“It was a swell. IDK bout others for me it was a lit...” He said when I asked “How was the party?” My nephew got up and continued “Catch u lateh... I gotta bounce...”

Gotta bounce? IDK? Where were these word when I was growing up? With the passage of time, language is evolving and new terms are entering the mainstream. Chats, emoji’s, hash tagging and slang have been on the rise for years. People of all ages influence linguistic change, and it’s always been that way. Some of the popular terms like FOMO, LOL, #BigRIP, Slay, TTYL, Swag, etc. have weaseled into our everyday use. Some of them, to the chagrin of others, have even managed to make their way into the dictionary! Google it.

These might be tricky to understand at first. #Coznooneenjoysreadingsentenceswithoutspaces But, for a generation especially interested in brevity and immediacy, that’s a pretty cool way to talk. The truth is that use of slang allows, and even encourages, the use of improper grammar and spelling. Most posts look like first drafts, quickly tossed off. Any professional writer knows the value of editing and rewriting for clarity.

Is this a Language reformation or a linguistic trauma? This is a long debate. I’m not going to comment on that here, but maybe the 200+ words I wrote on the topic can speak for themselves. I could have just written, “TBH #RIPGrammar” But, thankfully, there’s still some value in the relatively verbose.

Regards,

#Thesadandneglectedspacesbetweenyourwords