Chas said: To attempt to rid someone of their communicative techniques is (in part) to rid them of the their group identity.
First of all, the attempt isn't to rid them of communication, it is to correct and improve their communication. I have flaws and faults. My identity lies with my family, coworkers, friends, church, and countrymen. If you correct my flaws, my identity doesn't change. I haven't based my identity on others who share my flaws. Art is communication. Communication connects us as humans. Poor communication separates us and allows people or groups to slip through the cracks. To enforce a concise, codified standard of communication doesn't hinder art but rather frees it to touch a larger segment of people and bring them together. Yes, poor communication can be found through the generations, as can venereal disease. That doesn't mean that we should embrace it or not fight to eradicate it. The struggle against poor communication is the struggle against social entropy. Certainly language morphs and grows. It adapts to the needs of generations as a roadway adapts to the methods and volume of our conveyances. Not by being allowed to degenerate into potholes and weeds, but by growth, strengthening, and innovation provided by those who study and dedicate themselves to the task of maintaining it. To deny the poor or less educated access to a codified form of communication is to deny them access to a means of improving themselves. Though they may communicate well enough amongst themselves, you deny them communiation and communion with the rest of society. It denies them options. It is a means of keeping them down, not raising them up.
This idea about protecting creativity; it's not creativity if one doesn't know what they're talking about. Or if one is simply speaking that way out of habit, and is not really trying to express anything at all. The use of "like" and "ya know" is not creative, nor does it lend anything useful to us as people.
I liked this poem, but in naming the possible causes of this "problem" he hits the nail on the head a little too firmly when he says "or do we like have nothing to say?" There is no objective truth, there is no objective reality, there is no reason to be certain of any claim you make or any opinion you express. Your certainty only reveals your own inability to incorporate, into yourself, a holistic perspective on existence, YA KNOW?
-Kyle Britto
My dentist's receptionist 'phoned me the other day. She has this curse. I really couldn't tell is she were asking questions or making statements.
OK, it was not the best 'phone connection, but at the end, I was driven to the point of frustration where I told her what I thought of her impediment. Perhaps I'll forward this to her.
I'm late to this discussion but frankly it seems to me a lot of the poster's above me missed the point… Mali is not slamming people for impropper English. He is slamming people for not being more bold and forceful in expressing themselves. This is about conviction, not grammar. The 'likes' and 'ya knows?' and "invisible question marks" are detrimental to conviction, not grammar.
March 17, 2010 at 5:59 am
You know, it's all good, man.
March 28, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Chas said: To attempt to rid someone of their communicative techniques is (in part) to rid them of the their group identity.
First of all, the attempt isn't to rid them of communication, it is to correct and improve their communication. I have flaws and faults. My identity lies with my family, coworkers, friends, church, and countrymen. If you correct my flaws, my identity doesn't change. I haven't based my identity on others who share my flaws. Art is communication. Communication connects us as humans. Poor communication separates us and allows people or groups to slip through the cracks. To enforce a concise, codified standard of communication doesn't hinder art but rather frees it to touch a larger segment of people and bring them together. Yes, poor communication can be found through the generations, as can venereal disease. That doesn't mean that we should embrace it or not fight to eradicate it. The struggle against poor communication is the struggle against social entropy. Certainly language morphs and grows. It adapts to the needs of generations as a roadway adapts to the methods and volume of our conveyances. Not by being allowed to degenerate into potholes and weeds, but by growth, strengthening, and innovation provided by those who study and dedicate themselves to the task of maintaining it. To deny the poor or less educated access to a codified form of communication is to deny them access to a means of improving themselves. Though they may communicate well enough amongst themselves, you deny them communiation and communion with the rest of society. It denies them options. It is a means of keeping them down, not raising them up.
April 6, 2010 at 4:43 am
This idea about protecting creativity; it's not creativity if one doesn't know what they're talking about. Or if one is simply speaking that way out of habit, and is not really trying to express anything at all. The use of "like" and "ya know" is not creative, nor does it lend anything useful to us as people.
I loved this.
April 11, 2010 at 9:16 pm
I liked this poem, but in naming the possible causes of this "problem" he hits the nail on the head a little too firmly when he says "or do we like have nothing to say?" There is no objective truth, there is no objective reality, there is no reason to be certain of any claim you make or any opinion you express. Your certainty only reveals your own inability to incorporate, into yourself, a holistic perspective on existence, YA KNOW?
-Kyle Britto
April 21, 2010 at 12:54 pm
My dentist's receptionist 'phoned me the other day. She has this curse. I really couldn't tell is she were asking questions or making statements.
OK, it was not the best 'phone connection, but at the end, I was driven to the point of frustration where I told her what I thought of her impediment. Perhaps I'll forward this to her.
April 29, 2010 at 7:08 pm
I'm late to this discussion but frankly it seems to me a lot of the poster's above me missed the point… Mali is not slamming people for impropper English. He is slamming people for not being more bold and forceful in expressing themselves. This is about conviction, not grammar. The 'likes' and 'ya knows?' and "invisible question marks" are detrimental to conviction, not grammar.