Don’t criticize texting kids — English words are already spelled funny
I hope my daughter doesn’t read this. We were at my granddaughter’s 15th birthday party recently. It’s hard not to notice the kids in the room, always on their phones. Doesn’t make them bad kids. That’s their way of life and I don’t knock it; just as my folks didn’t knock the way I lived my teenaged years (though I can’t help but think they did, really, in private).
It’s just that I wonder what is going to happen to the English language and spelling in the future and how much face-to-face social contact today’s youth will have when they’re older.
I have always loved words. I had two great English teachers, one of whom took an interest in me because she was my mother’s friend, which I thought was weird. I guess the classes you like, and pay attention to, give you better marks.
Mrs. Pierce and Miss Steeves instilled proper English spelling and pronunciation in me. That’s why it bothered me when I would hear incorrect English like “I seen” and “Me and Billy,” but I have come to accept those usages are as much a part of those who use them as mine are of me. So, while I know they are not grammatically correct, so what?
Our acceptance of language is rapidly changing anyway, especially as it applies to texting. Few people text in complete sentences or correctly spelled words. I think spelling will soon become unimportant. And maybe that’s OK. What would be wrong with spelling words the way they sound? For example, “phone.” Why not “f-o-n-e?” Or “cough,” c-of-f. K-o-f-f, if you’d rather.
English is a strange language when you think of it. Take “pear,” for example. Drop the p and you don’t hear “air.” you hear “ear.” There’s a million of those.
Palindromes are fun too. That’s a word spelled the same way, backward or forward, like radar, madam, kayak and civic. It works with numbers also. They come up regularly, especially on your car’s odometer, like 26762. Class dismissed.
Fred Trainor is a retired broadcaster living in Okanagan Falls. Email: fredtrainor@shaw.ca