I am in mourning for the words AM, IS, and ARE.
In my memory, it all started in the 90s with the Arsenio Hall Show. Arsenio was charismatic, charming, a GQ dresser, and had his own late night television show. He was a great comedian, and a poor interviewer. What I remember is how he introduced his guests. “xxxxxx in the house tonight.” NOT “xxxxxx IS in the house tonight.” It has now become mainstream. Newscasters like Diane Sawyer regularly eliminate these words on the nightly news. For example, “Obama in Connecticut today…” rather than “President Obama IS in Connecticut today…” “Stock market down today…” rather than “THE stock market IS down today…” “Illinois unemployment down…” instead of “Illinois’s unemployment IS down…: Is it really too much to say IS, or AM, or ARE, or even THE? Should we really abandon the beauty of the English language to go along with the lowest common denominator of slang in this country? Is this a good example to set for our children? If slang is acceptable in the English language in the media, where will standards be set? Where will we find role models for our English language? Is it just me? Please let me know if you have even NOTICED this. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think there should be boundaries and respect for language. If not, where will it end? It reminds me of the absence of dress code in school. I remember when I was little, we had SCHOOL CLOTHES and PLAY CLOTHES. Now it looks like most students AND TEACHERS wear play clothes to school. I believe in boundaries and rules. English language rules. Dress code rules. Rules and standards create boundaries. Without boundaries, there is chaos. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned. WAIT! I AM old-fashioned. So maybe I’m wrong. Katthleen going out now… DUH!
LIFE GOES ON©
Kathleen Cairns, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in West Hartford, Connecticut. She works with adults, adolescents, and couples. You may call her at 860-236-5555 to make an appointment. She is the author of “The Psychotherapy Workbook.” You may email her at kathleen.cairns@mac.com and she will try to answer as many of your questions as possible.
www.kathleencairns.com
Life goes on… and every day matters…
Kathleen,
I couldn’t agree with you more. I think proper language skills in general have deteriorated. No one knows the proper usage of it’s/its or your/you’re or apostrophes. The cause? Texting? The ability to quickly type a message? Lack of proper foundation in grammar and writing? The proliferation of blogs, which make everyone a “writer?”
All of the above?
No one seems to be self editing and in terms of the media (print especially) proofreaders have gone the way of the dinosaur. Jobs overlap. By the time my weekly newspapers were closed in 2008, I was editing all the copy that came in, writing stories and editing those of my part-time reporter, taking and editing photos and laying out the paper — by myself.
Worst of all, it seem that only a select few care.