Selfie-obsessed: 2013 is declared omnishambles Selfies, unliking and binge-watching is the state

“Authority and American Usage,” an interesting essay written by the brilliant and quick-witted David Foster Wallace, presents an argument on different ways of understanding the ever-changing American usage in the English language. Keeping up with the English language in America is like chasing your new, untrained puppy down the street. Tiring and basically impossible to get a hold of. Over the past centuries, the English language has evolved so much, that if you took a person from the 13th century and threw them in the middle of New York City in 2013, it would be as if two different languages were being spoken.

Simon shows this by saying “It is perhaps equally inevitable… for certain words to become obsolescent and obsolete, and drop out of the language” (337); similarly MacNeil says “Everything in the American experience, each new frontier encountered—geographical, spiritual, technological—has altered our language” (316); and McGray does this by saying “ Some adventurous school districts have let their foreign-language programs evolve with the times” (357).

A photograph, painting, canvas, or drawing today is not the same as it was a decade ago. Technology has evolved to the point where we can photoshop a person into a picture, enlarge a person’s butt, or even whiten people’s teeth. At what point do those technological advances cross a line? With social media ranging from Facebook and Twitter to Instagram and Tumblr, do these media sites promote egotistical behavior? In January of 2013, John Paul Titlow discusses some of the disadvantages and advantages that Instagram has in his essay: “#Me: Instagram Narcissism and the Scourge of the Selfie” that was posted on a website called ReadWrite. Although Instagram was primarily created to simply share pictures, it has evolved to do much more than that. Some businesses use it to advertise, some people use it to share their art, but then there are some people use it to flaunt their own personal lives in the form of pictures. Titlow acknowledges that Instagram is a desirable way to share art and diverse imagery, but additionally acknowledges that it can be a place where one can promote their own self-popularity. He explains that Instagram has become remarkably important in people’s lives to the point that they cannot view life past those Instagram likes (Titlow). Ultimately, Titlow succeeds in emphasizing the issues that Instagram has created by reason of the way he expresses his text, while furthermore expressing who the audience of his essay is, and by making his overall purpose clear.

Unfortunately, this utopian argument doesn’t account for the countless studies correlating film and television viewing to perpetuated hate and stereotyping, and unhealthy lifestyle choices. Declining SAT scores and library check-outs over the decades have lead critics to believe that film and television are aiding in the international "dumbification" effort, in which individuals are losing the ability to think without direction. This phenomenon is closely related to the more recent "couch potato syndrome", in which laziness, lack of physical fitness and a passive attitude combine, producing the ultimate unhealthy lifestyle that is currently sweeping the majority of modern America. More important, however, are the two great faults of film and television. First, film and television establish false

Exploration of modern usage dictionaries, the invisible linguistic war, and a grammar-obsessed adult’s troubled childhood flesh out this review by David Foster Wallace of The American Usage Dictionary. “Plus, of course, there are also innumerable sub- and subsub-dialects based on all sorts of things that have nothing to do with locale or ethnicity - Medical-School English, Twelve-Year-Old-Male-Whose-Worldview-Is-Deeply-Informed-By-South-Park-English - that are nearly incomprehensible to anyone who is not inside their very tight and specific Discourse Community (which of course is part of their function)”. The notion that sub-dialects which nearly every person possesses bar entry to groups makes one think about exclusivity. Exclusivity possesses a negative

Recently I read ‘Feed’, by M.T Anderson, a dystopian novel about how advancement in technology is negatively affecting our society and the way we communicate with each other. The author led me to believe that these advancements, such as texting, are causing our language to deteriorate. Further research proves that texting may be improving and many are learning to accept. When the era of the written word dies, will we be left with an illiterate generation with poor grammar? Students are texting constantly. In and out of class, it is becoming a bigger and bigger part of their lives. Some might say that we are creating a less literate generation, but research shows that texting improves student literacy for three reasons. First, texting improves

Society today is quick to judge and state what is wrong and what is acceptable by the public. While some differences between Spelling Matters and Use Your Own Words are obvious, the similarities are relevant. Anne Trubek says that perhaps it is time to change or alter grammar rules to match the current generation and culture. We should advance our guidelines about what is proper and improper along with what is happening right now with the language. While Mikita Brottman says, “bad spelling can be a godsend—a way of weeding out those who are thoughtless and inattentive to detail” (p. 219).

From generations to generation grammar has been a big part of the English language. It has also changed since it first develops. From texting complete sentences like “See you later” to “C U l8r” or from using the spelling two and using the number form of it to replace that. Using slang word such as those can ruin a person’s reputation. In the stories of The Joy of Texting by Lynne Truss and I Won’t Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here’s Why. by Kyle Wiens, both show some main similarities for it uses of correct grammar and why it should be that way. Grammar can make or break a person and could cost serious chances in life.

Students aren’t making nearly as many spelling mistakes due to spellcheck but are now using the wrong word or preposition in their writing. Stanford researcher Andrea Lunsford creates an interesting point when she asks if students are losing the taste for more complex English. This is something we don’t want to lose the ability to do.

First of all, most people can no longer able to hold a conversation without looking at their phone every few minutes. Our ability to conversant is dwindling due to text lingo. As Nicholas Carr, said 1“Just as there’s a tendency to glorify technological progress, there’s a countertendency to expect the worst of every new tool or machine”. As I was walking through the mall one day I overheard a group of teen girls talking and every few words was either “omg”, “like” or “seriously”. Nowadays, when writing to friends common words are often shortened to save time, but what most people do not realize, is that people develop habits and after so many uses of text lingo the actual way to spell the word goes away.

With the name The Unicorn Hunters, one might think this group consists of delusional people, but on the contrary The Unicorn Hunters are a group created for Lake Superior State University (LSSU) to garner more support for the school. W.T. (Bill) Rabe created the Unicorn Hunters after being hired as the Director of Public Relations at LSSU. The group’s popularity hails from their publicity stunts and other events, one of which includes the annual List of Banished Words that first began in 1975-76 (Lake Superior State University). This list consists of words and phrases that people wish to banish from our language. The past lists show words that people generally disliked, overused, or considered to be a negligent and lazy way to communicate.

The subject of how technology is changing written English is a touchy subject; many people believe that our current technology is allowing us to become lazy. Text messaging being the ultimate reason we are taking so many short cuts when it comes to writing proper English. There are so many abbreviated words and meanings in text messaging, I sometimes find myself confused when I receive messages from people that I have to google what they are trying to say. I don’t want to respond and assume I know what they are trying say.

People talk, always talk. At some point, it does not matter where or with who, but people create personal jokes with some wordplay, something personal and weird, that remind them to some particular situation. This could be the way that slangs got into our lives, and consequently reproduced by talking. Furthermore, what is meant to be aboard in this annotated bibliography is to see the contrast between slags and the correct grammar. It will also explore the influence of social media in our day to day grammar, and its cultural importance. In addition, this annotated bibliography will analyze the archaisms, the words that fall in discontinuity. How words

In his article, “How Do You Say Sex?,” Jonathon Green describes how we are using more slangs words in our life than the original words. Now a day, we keep generating more slang words just to make the original word looks fancier, shorter and stylish. In addition, a group or a community create a slang word, so that word can only be used within a particular group. Once that slang word is being used by other group— now it is a time to generate a new slang to replace the old one. This is how the slang language has been dominating the society. For instance, a word stupid has 1,000 slangs. Why? The theory behind creating a new slang is to control others in that particular crowd, and the new slang word will created as soon as it is known by other

It’s become a nationwide reality. It is now seen as commonplace for people to spend excessive amounts of time staring at the TV with glassy eyes and a hazed mentality just for the sake of running through a show like how a college student crams before a big test. Binge-watching is seen as acceptable, but in reality it is extremely unhealthy and detrimental. Despite this, it is considered a sport for some people. Many people binge-bond with other people to make connections. This trend became big around 2011 when 3 critically-acclaimed TV shows appeared on the video steaming service Netflix. It quickly became a well-known phenomenon, and the negative effects revealed themselves just as fast.