Ever have one of those moments when you
intend to say something and it sounds right in your head, but when
you say it out loud it just comes out all wrong? This is the land of
the “that's what she said” jokes and endless mockery from
friends, naturally. I have fallen victim to this myself, like the one
time I was debating whether to say “hold your horses” or “chill
out” and I ended up saying “chill your horses.” That might not
sound funny to you now, but I guess it's just one of those “you had
to be there” things. And I do this all the time. Perhaps the reason
I have so many language blunders is because English is my second
language, though considering how long I've been speaking it, maybe
I'm just an awkward person.
But I'm glad to see that I'm not the
only one. Like this entertaining image I found on tumblr some time
ago.
So I guess this also applies to the
malleable nature of Wikipedia.
In any case, mistakes in spoken
language can be quite funny, as can those in written language. An
interesting... subset, I guess you can call it, is the t9 and
autocorrect blunder. We have most likely all seen these. There are
many cases of your electronic device making too many assumptions
about what you wanted to say.
What does this say about the evolution
of language? It is obvious that we no longer speak or write the same
as our English speaking predecessors. They did not have any
“lulzzzzz” nor any “OMG!”s, but these and other “texting
talk” have now permeated our language. Where is English headed in
the future? If language simplifies as time goes on, will we
essentially start using only one word to express any and all thoughts
and emotions? This is a scary thought, especially to anyone that has
read George Orwell's 1984.
Is it
our responsibility to try to stop our language from devolving? Or
should it just be allowed to continue evolving into whatever
direction society takes it? Ultimately, these are not questions that
can be easily answered, especially considering that a project of such
scale would require all of society to handle. Or perhaps a few
determined college students on a language crusade of sorts.
Images courtesy of: http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsioqvNO9T1qj2698o1_500.jpg
http://m100group.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/1984-1.jpg
Images courtesy of: http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsioqvNO9T1qj2698o1_500.jpg
http://m100group.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/1984-1.jpg
I thought the Wikipedia one was absolutely hilarious... that list and expansion should NEVER go together. #epicfail It reminds me of the Spam food (the Spam meat in the can) ads that show up on the ad bar above your spam box in Gmail. :D
ReplyDeleteI feel like these "language blunders" add a nice touch of humor to things, but they can get old and become annoying... the "that's what she said" jokes are getting kind of old. I always hated when I was trying to say something important, then some immature nasty kid replies with "and that's what she said". The overuse or misuse of "LOL" is getting more and significant... I think both of these really need to go. :-\
I definitely have this problem. It's like I never think before I speak, so people take advantage of my mess-ups. What's even worse is that english is my first and only language. Whoops. Anyway, I think as culture develops, language blunders become more common... or maybe the "that's what she said" is the only example. Although it is humorous, it can be tiring when your point doesn't get across.
ReplyDeleteI've got to agree with the ladies above me. The immaturity of some people really irritates me, so I feel like I have to be self-conscious of what I say around certain people. It seems as though the texting lingo used to be considered "cool" when we were about 13, with the use of good ol' RAZRs, but now that smartphones have the incorporation of autocorrect it should be a hint that texting lingo needs to go. After all, as long as we are slightly intelligent in our typing attempts, our phones will do the work for us now.
ReplyDelete