i guess we categorize this as social commentary;

The day before the Vance/Walz vice presidential debate, I was having lunch with a gentleman with an old-world education, certainly of the highest levels, but just Brooklyn public schools in the old days. He is not a credentialed intellectual in any official sense but it was fascinating to hear him speak about almost anything, even when we disagreed.

He mentioned in passing that he can hardly have a conversation with anyone under 40 these days. This is not because they are stupid or inexperienced. It is because they do not speak properly. They cannot seem to form sentences coherently. They are not adept at normal communication. The language they speak is not anything like standard English and neither is it some charming slang.

The new language is something else, born of purely oral transmission and heavily informed by influencer culture and podcasting. Buzzwords are thrown around everywhere as a replacement for actual language. The vocabulary is small, including the incessant use of “literally,” “so,” “annoying,” and “actually.”

There are repeated words that grate on one’s nerves: “go” instead of said or did, “you know” and “know what I’m saying?” as a random filler, ending most sentences with “right?” plus the worst offender: the incessant deployment of the word “like,” often every 4 or 5 words.

This prattle is embedded in a lyrical formulation that includes three crucial elements: nasal sonorities, raising intonation, followed by an ending vocal fry. Every bit of combination conveys an attitude of “nothing matters,” “I don’t care,” and “to make sure you don’t criticize me, I’m making sure that my words mean as little as possible.”

Yes, I’ve noticed all this, and it is getting worse. English is being replaced by something else entirely. Sitting on a train a few weeks ago, I had people in front, behind, and to the side who were all deploying this strange language. They spoke incessantly the entire trip, and said nothing at all of any meaning.

I simply cannot understand why this is happening. It strikes me as highly dangerous for a culture to lose its language and have it replaced by a series of pidgin utterances that are vague, strange, and largely without content........more.........