[Niluial]

Another depressing thing is people no longer have an understanding of words. It worries me when I use simple words (such as optimistic, surreal, nobility etc) when talking to my fellow students and they then ask me to speak English. Surely even nine year olds should have an understanding of those simple words?

My step mom and I like to experiment a lot so we came up with this idea to read to my brothers and cousins this year and only let them watch half an hour of television a day. We have read great classics such as The Hobbit, Alice in Wonderland and Black Beauty to them and intend on reading more. Their English has improved immensely and they do not use as much slang as they used to. I can ask them the meanings of optimistic, surreal & nobility and they can tell me the meanings of these words in an instant. Please note that these are young four, five, seven and eight year olds I am talking about. This shows what television is doing to our knowledge of literature and spelling. Instead of increasing our knowledge of literature and spelling television is increasing our knowledge on slang. But should we be surprised?

Then Imladris pointed out another factor in her Xanga Blog the other day. For example people use the wonderful word ‘hate’ excessively when we really do not mean it. We use hate instead of dislike constantly. Is this human race too lazy to say dislike when it is only two more letters than hate? Of course I can not judge for I am a victim of using ‘hate’ excessively too (though I am trying to kick the habit).