Although cute, I find this video worrisome.
It is symbolizes the problem I see with the future of language and the acceptance of Twitter-speak/spelling as the norm. Increasingly, I am receiving e-mails that are in the Twit style. And I can see future writers saying, “If it isn’t wrong according to spellcheck, then it must not be wrong!”
RSS
Email
Facebook
Twitter
It does worry me. I am a huge stickler for correct grammar and punctuation. Even when I text I use it correctly, yet on Twitter I’ve found myself writing fragments. Guess I’ll crack down on myself, re-read Eats, Shoots and Leaves and get to work.
Which of course leads to the question of “Is it REALLY wrong?” If language didn’t change, we’d all be talking like Chaucer. And I suspect the kids don’t give a derp what us traditionalists think. In fact, the more they can lock us out of their language, the better for them.
I’m ambivalent to minor spelling errors and missing punctuation; the email was likely jotted down in a hurry. But I’m beginning to see more and more homonym misuse (seamed/seemed) and that worries me.
Part of the problem is that English retains archaic spelling rules. For many languages, such as Arabic, spelling is not an issue at all. Nearly every word is spelled how it sounds, with only a few phonological rules governing special cases (n before b is pronounced as an m, for example).
Livings languages have always changed to meet the needs of the people using them. People change first, as in using slang, then formal dictionaries catch up.
However, my daughter and I also had issues with the video. We both thought that the baby is missing the tactile aspect to reading children’s books like Pat the Bunny. Most of the baby books we had have some sort of tactile aspect to them. They have textures, are padded, or have little parts that pop out. Touch is an important sense and you can do any of that with a tablet.
There was an article recently that said businesses and colleges that use or teach physical skills like mechanics or woodworking find that new students lack the manual dexterity for many tasks. They didn’t know how to turn a screwdriver or how to properly use a hammer and their muscles had difficulty adjusting.
I fear that with the booming growth of electronics, many people will fail to learn basic skills necessary for life.
This is both cute and profoundly disturbing. It’s good that she’s developing the manual dexterity necessary to use a computer interface and developing an intuitive understanding of how to navigate one. If this comes at the cost of not developing the motor skills, patience, and mind set necessary to absorb a book or magazine, it’s not so good.