More and more these days, I hear people complaining about how the English language is getting dumber, and I have to respectfully disagree. Just because we're coming up with ways to shorten our sentences and use more abbreviations than ever, that doesn't mean we're any less intelligent - one could even make the argument that English, as a whole, is getting more complicated every day, and the ones complaining are the ones who are finding it difficult to keep up.
Take, for instance, Internet or text speak. It's a whole different dialect to spoken word, and because of how limited text is (lacking tone and body language/non-verbal cues), we have collectively developed ways of conveying our exact meaning through the minute changes in how we write something.
For example, a recent upsurge came in the use of the words 'smol' and 'tol'. At first glance, they seem to merely be ridiculous misspellings of 'small' and 'tall,' but upon closer inspection, this isn't the case, and they have much deeper meanings.
'Smol' denotates a person, animal, or object that is extremely cute and which one has a desire to protect, and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with size; although the tinier something is, the cuter it is considered. For example, a Yorkie puppy can be considered both smol and small - both little and completely adorable. However, I own two Doberman Pinschers, fairly large dogs, and have referred to them as 'smol' in conversation; I see them as being very cute and definitely worthy of my protection, despite weighing closer to 70 lbs than 7.
'Tol' was developed in conjunction with smol, and is generally used to refer to a person, animal, or thing that is of a ludicrous height but still very cute. In this case, a Great Dane could be considered tol, and I've seen it used in reference to some celebrities that are of an offensive height to someone that barely clears 5'4".
Beyond words, the very grammar and punctuation (or lack thereof) used by those who are Internet-fluent can make two sentences that are word-for-word copies of each other mean very different things.
"Listen, I don't mean to sound presumptuous, but you're going about this all wrong." has a completely different connotation than "listen....i dont mean to sound Presumptuous....but youre going about this(tm) all wrong........"
In the first sentence, written in grammatically correct, this-is-what-your-English-teacher-is-paid-for English, the person is clearly frustrated, but trying to remain calm as they give or repeat instructions to an unknown third party. In short, it's what you expect to hear in a work or school environment.
The second sentence, however, is the height of Internet-speak. There is seemingly random capitalization and no punctuation beyond ellipses, giving the writer a very laid back feel. This person is just tired with everything, and it's taking so much energy for them to type this out that they aren't going to expend anymore on trying to be grammatically correct. The capitalization of the word 'presumptuous' gives it significance, however, and a slightly sarcastic bite. It gives it emphasis without italics, bolding, or underlining, which can be difficult to do on some platforms, if not downright impossible over text messaging. The trademark symbol, or indication of one, after 'this' indicates the real problem or issue on the table - the current situation that needs to be dealt with, but in a more efficient manner. It's another way to emphasize something, but without losing the emphasis of the first word. It's an alternate to italicizing 'presumptuous' and then bolding 'this,' but without requiring the coding needed to do either action. Finally, the ellipses exaggerate both the tiredness of the writer and the sarcasm they are infusing into every letter. It gives a sense that this conversation has happened before, possibly multiple times, and they are getting more and more frustrated that their point isn't coming through clearly. Frustration is most clearly recognized in Millennials as increased sass and mental fatigue.
It's not hard to see why, either, when you look around and see what all we have to deal with, what we've been left by the generations before us. Some good, yes, but a whole lot of bad that outweighs it. So while the Baby Boomers keep complaining about the way Millennials talk and write, just remember that at least we aren't the ones who tanked the economy and job market on several different occasions.
