Life is Not a Succession of Urgent "Nows", It is a Listless Trickle of "Why Should I's".

This evening, when I got home from work, the following video was in my inbox. The sender was anonymous, although I have a few ideas of who it could have been. Regardless, the sender is well acquainted with my views on the English language and the importance of its proper use.

I take for granted the vocabulary and knowledge of language and grammar that my closest friends and I have. I forget that I chose to associate (for the most part) only with articulate people. Those who know me well would not hesitate in saying that I have a low tolerance for stupidity. It's true. I think my generation is ruining itself with the language of e-mails, texting, and social networking.

Twitter and texts are forcing us to cut our sentences into condensed little blurbs that one can only hope are complete enough for the reader to understand. We abbreviate words until they're almost unrecognizable.

The epidemic of "up-speak" as my dad prefers to call it, is rampant with people my age, making even the most decisive of statements sound like a question. Mean what you say, and stick up for yourself.

Unnecessary phrases have crept into people's sentences: you know....like...etc. Once you're made aware of it, hearing how many times the word "like" is used in people sentences becomes infuriating.

All these trends are creeping into our writing too. I couldn't believe it last year when one of my professors told the class that he read an essay in which the author actually wrote "u" instead of "you". The other day in class, we had a presentation about how to write e-mails and letters as well as proper punctuation. I became instantly offended by the tone of our lecturer. She was talking to the class like we were a bunch of stuttering two year olds and clearly assumed that none of us knew how to write. Suddenly I realized that her skepticism was probably justified. Seriously, what is my generation coming to?

What can we do to stop it? Be aware! Think before you speak. I rehearse my answers in my mind before I even raise my hand in class. Practice! Write for fun. Write about anything. Just write. Read everything. I've learned more about my speaking and writing preferences from Jane Austen novels and other books I've read than in most of my formal English classes.

Language is such a beautiful, powerful tool. It's nuances are almost infinite and convey even the most elusive of emotions. Don't let it be wasted just because you're too lazy to form a complete sentence.

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

"I am a lover of truth, a worshipper of freedom, a celebrant at the altar of language and purity and tolerance." (Stephen Fry)