Quote:
Originally Posted by desertgrandma
I am so sick of the massacre I hear daily of the English language. We are becoming a nation of illiterates. "Da Bomb"? "My Bad"? Perhaps its my age, perhaps its the heat, but someone has to speak out. Stop the dumbing down of America! (stepping off soapbox now)
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Now, now .... keep in mind that Americans (and by that I mean we lovely folks in the US) have always been creators of slang. Long before things were "da bomb" they were "the bee's knees."
I know I tend to use the newer slang terms only when I want to express some serious sarcasm, (Well, ain't dat jus' da bomb -- said as snidely as possible).
Actually, most slang in general is created by groups who feel dispossessed and cut out of the mainstream. Thus, Cockney rhyming slang, Black slang (dating all the way back to the days of slavery), the slang of prison populations. It's just a way of fighting back and creating your own identity with your group.
The only people I worry about are those that don't know the difference between slang and formal English (whether we are talking about that language as it is spoken in the UK and former colonies or the US and former territories) ... those people, sadly, are doomed to a life in the gutter ... unless they are really good at either sports, or entertainment, or perhaps if they have a successful drug dealing business.
