I just read an article, "What Happens in Vagueness Stays in Vagueness," written by NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani's former speech writer, Clark Whelton, who shares a disconcerting observation about American youth: that they suffer from a "linguistic virus that [has] infected spoken language in the late twentieth century"--inserting empty words and evasive phrases, such as "like," and "you know?", as filler in their interrogative-toned declarations, resulting in often incoherent and indefinite statements.
As a high school teacher at what I consider to be the best school in the city, possibly the surrounding area--and I confidently make this claim beacuse of the students, not necessarily the staff--I am often blown away by the level of analytical thought of which many of my students are capable. However, I have also noticed a lack of confidence in the vast majority of my students' oral communication skills--and that's what I think it comes down to. I don't think young people subconsciously want to emulate the idiocy of Snookie and The Situation; in fact, I think they are quite critical of the aforementioned idiocy and comment on it in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. No, I think it is their collective insecurity about the possibility of saying something new or profound, which in the internet age, seems overwhelmingly impossible. So they precede their classroom contributions with: "Um, I was just going to say," and "Well, like, I think that..." This isn't a sign of the "decline and fall of American English," as Whelton suggests; it is a sign that we should encourage our students to build confidence in their ideas and opinions, even if they feel that someone "out there" has "already said it" and has probably articulated it much better than them, too. That's not the case. The sheer volume of "stuff" online certainly does not indicate that there is more knowledge or more heightened intellect today than when I was a teenager. No, half of the stuff online is pure crap. But its existence is certainly intimidating, and often appealing, which is why so many smart and competent students plagiarize.
Anyway, please read an excpert from Taylor Mali's poem, "Totally like whatever, you know?" and, even better, watch the link at the bottom!
"In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?"
Watch Taylor Mali on Def Poetry Jam here:
