I Hear English Changing

[Mike]

I have always heard of historical incidents, events, etc.,
described in years, like "the end of WWII was 80 years
ago, they last won this tournament 17 years ago".

These days that seems to have changed, it began with
news broadcasts, "The war finished 8 decades ago, it
as almost 2 decades since the last won", etc., etc.

A few days ago, I watched a broadcast about the ship,
"The Mary Celeste", the ghost ship that was discovered
drifting, without a soul on board, according to the last
entry in the log book, it had been drifting for one week.

One of the opening statements was, "this has been a
mystery since 1895?? but now we will attempt to solve it
some 15 decades later".

This not a criticism, but just seems strange to me.

Have you noticed your language evolving, along these
lines?

Mike.

 

[hearlady]

I think it's more about the broadcasters parroting each other. Remember "gravitas" and there's been several stories and phrases that have been parroted almost exactly by several different news agencies.

 

[hollydolly]

the Marie Celeste ''sunk'' in 1885 not '95.. and that makes 14 decades...

..however I'm sure that's not your point.. but I'm struggling to know what it is..genuinely... but here in the Uk as you know very well Mike.. the language has changed absolutely and mostly for the worse..

 

[Mike]

That I noticed they have stopped using the word
years hollydolly.

Mike.

 

[hollydolly]

That I noticed they have stopped using the word
years hollydolly.

Mike.

Oh I see....

 

[Aunt Bea]

More dramatic effect?

I mainly notice more slang, lazy filler words, and a less professional tone.

 

[Messy]

I also mainly say decades, because it's so long ago. I say something about when I was 20 and think: my that's ages ago or decades. Especially when I talk to my teens.
My mom always said: When I was young, when the trees could still talk.

 

[Tommy]

One of the opening statements was, "this has been a
mystery since 1895?? but now we will attempt to solve it
some 15 decades later".

Actually, the Mary Celeste was found drifting and abandoned in December of m1872 which was 153 years ago which, with rounding, would make 15 decades ago correct.

To your point, @Mike, I agree with @Messy that it's probably a question of scale. As the time lengthens days, months, and years become less relevant.

 

[jimintoronto]

Mike. My Father was born in south western Ontario Province in 1898. In 1915, at age 17, he enlisted in the Canadian Army at Toronto. He served from October of 1915, to his eventual return to Toronto in July of 1919. He was a member of the Canadian Machine Gun Corps. I was born in August of 1946, from his second marriage. Dad lived to be 83, dying in Toronto in 1981. So I am the direct descendant of a First World War veteran. Most people who alive to day cannot make that statement. As a teen ager in the 1960's, my Dad was my very own WW1 tutor. He had no problem discussing "his war " at all. That connection sparked my 50 plus years of reading military history, especially about the Canadians. JIMB.

 

[Ronni]

More and more, nouns are being used as verbs with the addition of an extra letter or two. It’s called verbing.

For example: Instead of putting food on a plate, the food is plated. Google used to be a noun only. But now it’s a verb “I’m going to google it.” Text is another one. The noun “text” has been verbed to become an action word..”I’ll text you when I’m on the way. “

Some scholars are concerned that verbing is ruining the English language. I don’t agree. Language has always been fluid, is constantly evolving, more words and phrases are added to dictionaries every year, and thereby become official.

Verbing creates more efficiency and speed, sometimes replacing most of a sentence with less verbiage. “”I’ll send you a friend request” becomes “I’ll friend you”.

It also modernizes our language, keeping it relevant with current societal practice, and honestly it’s just fun!

 

[IrishEyes]

I have used the word decade in many posts when I am referring to something that happened more than 20 years
prior. No idea why I do, just easier than figuring out the exact years at this stage of the game.

 

[jimintoronto]

More and more, nouns are being used as verbs with the addition of an extra letter or two. It’s called verbing.

For example: Instead of putting food on a plate, the food is plated. Google used to be a noun only. But now it’s a verb “I’m going to google it.” Text is another one. The noun “text” has been verbed to become an action word..”I’ll text you when I’m on the way. “

Some scholars are concerned that verbing is ruining the English language. I don’t agree. Language has always been fluid, is constantly evolving, more words and phrases are added to dictionaries every year, and thereby become official.

Verbing creates more efficiency and speed, sometimes replacing most of a sentence with less verbiage. “”I’ll send you a friend request” becomes “I’ll friend you”.

It also modernizes our language, keeping it relevant with current societal practice, and honestly it’s just fun!

Here in Canada there are companies who provide English language editing and spelling corrections to "new Canadians " who are opening cafes, retail stores and personal service agencies. The on going joke is the warped wordings, and mis spellings that business operators who were "born someplace else " produce on their printed materials, menus, and vehicle lettering. One of the phrases we hear is Chinglish, for the mangled attempts at translating Mandarin or Cantonese into English language.

 

[officerripley]

I've noticed that too: "decades" is being used a lot more than it used to be.

 

[StarSong]

More and more, nouns are being used as verbs with the addition of an extra letter or two. It’s called verbing.

For example: Instead of putting food on a plate, the food is plated. Google used to be a noun only. But now it’s a verb “I’m going to google it.” Text is another one. The noun “text” has been verbed to become an action word..”I’ll text you when I’m on the way. “

Some scholars are concerned that verbing is ruining the English language. I don’t agree. Language has always been fluid, is constantly evolving, more words and phrases are added to dictionaries every year, and thereby become official.

Verbing creates more efficiency and speed, sometimes replacing most of a sentence with less verbiage. “”I’ll send you a friend request” becomes “I’ll friend you”.

It also modernizes our language, keeping it relevant with current societal practice, and honestly it’s just fun!

Exactly. We change language to suit our needs, as well we should. Language is used to communicate, and if new words and new ways of using words help with clearer communication, I'm all for it!

 

[JBR]

I guess younger generations seem less concerned about history... apparently, precision, in terms of years, generally seems less important to people. With the focuses people have today, there's generally less interest or understanding of the past. Political leaders can play with "alternative facts".

I have to admit that, when I was in my mid to late teens, history classes didn't grip me. I hadn't lived enough, hadn't experienced enough direct "life learning" offered by personal situations. The big wars had happened elsewhere, etc. "Decades" were as good a any grasp of a number of "years".

I simply hadn't widened my view enough to be interested in the past. I absorbed enough to pass the tests the teachers gave us, to keep my marks up. For me, my interests did change. Still, in my teenage years, I didn't contend with the distractions offered by online phones and the internet.

 

[MACKTEXAS]

I had not noticed a change in how time is expressed in the news. @Aunt Bea in post #6 wrote, "more slang, lazy filler words, and a less professional tone." I have certainly noticed that and dislike it.

Also, I prefer objectivity in news reporting / journalism. Reporters should stay with verified facts and neutral language; exluding personal opinions and bias.

 

[JBR]

A very minor exchange re history. We have a mini-mart just next to the local gas pumps. I was in there recently to buy something, so when the normally jokey guy behind the counter tallied the cost on the till, he said, eighteen-fifty-two (meaning $18.52). I immediately said, "that was a great year historically, but I don't know for what." He laughed, instantly replying with his feeling about the news these days, "Yeah, different year, same sh-t!"

 

[RambleTamble]

I think some people just never learned proper grammar, and some of those people somehow get jobs as journalists or editors. I occasionally see news articles in major publications that have blatant grammatical mistakes in the headlines. Often it's just the headline with the errors and not the articles themselves, so it's probably whoever was responsible for creating attention grabbing headlines who made the mistake. But if those mistakes get repeated enough and become common vernacular, it has the potential to change the language itself.