Lamentations on Language and a Tried and True Testament to Tactile Tomes

"There sighs, lamentations and loud wailings resounded through the stareless air so that at first it made me weep; strange tongues, horrible language, words of pain, tones of anger, voices loud and hoarse, and with these the sound of hands, made a tumult which is whirling through that air forever dark, and sand eddies in a whirlwind."
--Dante Alighieri

(Pay attention...there'll be a fun quiz at the end! :) )

Thanks to Dante, we're able to conjure up a vision of Hell. However, when you think about the internet (some blogging, talkbacks, etc.), you can understand where "strange tongues, horrible language, words of pain [and] tones of anger" can be very similar to that. Moreover, the media thrives upon those who utilize "voices loud and hoarse" to get their points across, thereby releasing hellish beings like Bill O'Reilly, Glen Beck, Keith Olbermann (who I used to like) and a host of others to stifle intelligent discourse in lieu of one-sided opinions.

They are legion! Lol.

However, that discussion may best be saved for another post.

This post relates, however, to that quote in that I've noticed a trend in "horrible language" that now seems to permeate everyday life.

Has anyone else noticed that, when you're reading a story, column, post or anything else (by "professional" writers, mind you), you'll zip along the text and it hits you that one word wasn't quite right? Then, as an act of lunacy, you begin to question whether they're right and you're wrong!

Let me provide an example...

Say you're reading a mystery story where a crime has just occured and, just as the suspense is building, you come across something like this...

"Mack stood over the lifeless body as traffic echoed loudly throughout the room from the street below. From the hallway, he could here the faint clicking of heals growing ever distant."

Huh?

If you're imagining the voice of a narrator in your head, it "sounds" right to you, but you know there's something amiss.

Oh, right...there are two incorrect words in the latter sentence.

This is a growing problem that annoys the hell out of me.

Obviously, it escapes spellchecking because, technically, the words are spelled correctly. They're just the wrong words!

You don't "here" something...you hear something. And those aren't "heals" that are clicking (that is, unless, it's an alien race or magical shaman that can somehow remedy illnesses and are afflicted with TMJ Syndrome)...they're heels and are worn.

Some other words most often confused...

Something piques your interest, not "peaks" (or "peeks") it...

You lose control, not "loose"...

They're going to the store...not "their" or "there"

And one that infuriates me to no end is perfectly illustrated by this photo...


Not "your" a retard!

I sometimes wonder how we're allowing our society to become a nation of retards (those easily offended can take a gander at my earlier post on the true definition of "retard"). I don't think it's because we don't read enough.

It's that we don't read the right things.

The inclination nowadays is to get information from a convenient source like the internet. That's fine but make sure that what you're getting is quality.

Personally, I don't like reading everything online. Maybe I'm old school (not unlike Frank "the Tank" Ricard), but I still prefer the tactile sense of picking up a magazine, newspaper or a book. I fear with the arrival of gadgets like the Kindle (or the Kindle 2--they dropped the "Electric Boogaloo", thankfully) or the increasing reliance upon the web, that we're ultimately going to put less effort in substance and quality in order to hurry news and other bits of information along to the masses. As a result, we're going to learn to accept incorrect language, misspellings and even wrong information--and we're going to be worse off in the long run.

I hope that I'm wrong...I really do. But I see more and more evidence of it each day and in everything that I read.

Then again, by the time we reach the "Idiocracy" stage, my flesh will be undoubtedly roasting in the flames of Hell.

According to Dante's Inferno Test, I'm already destined for the Fifth Circle...where will you be?

Hopefully, your not near any devils with there pitchforks, hot on your heals and making you loose your sanity!

>:)

P.S. Told you there would be a quiz at the end!