The Amazing World of the English Language.

[Hickory]

English is a very old, very interesting language. Everybody here on the forum speaks it. I speak it. You speak it. However complex or simple we take it, we take it for granted.

As someone who does quite a few English-related things (heck, we all do), I'd like to make a few points.

At the beginning of "Middle English" (1100 A.D.), there was a point where we could start understanding the older style of English. Still, words like "sawgth" (saw) and "wolde" (rode) were much in use and plenty of people would scratch their head and wonder what the heck was up with these people. Let me say that English, at this time, wasn't very widespread and was probably in as much use as Scottish is right now, maybe a little more.  But we have to appreciate that these people, William the Conquerer and Chaquer, made us what we were today. Without them, we might not be speaking English today. Now, I'm not saying William was a great person, but he was a person who made this happen.

What about now? What about the age of technology, where people have started to degrade the English Language? "With great power comes great responsibility," to quote Uncle Ben. THe creation of texting has lead to a world of young men and women who, basically, are illiterate! I recently got an e-mail from a fellow student, and he showed my as much courtesy as he shows people he texts. At least I write my name at the bottom of my e-mails! English is not a toy, free to warp and smash as wanted!

That's probably taken as a rant, so I'll continue on.

English can, however, be used as a toy, in some cases. People among us know of lots of fun things to do with words, my favorite being the portmanteu. (the stringing of two words together. For example, together is a combination of to, get, and her.) There are hunreds of photos out there, showing the dexterity of one of the most popular languages of earth.

English is hard. Learning words is one thing (people out of high school can testify to that), but earning the thousands of way to change words? Present, past, future, me, you, they, us, you all. People who speak other languages, like Sierra, can easily say that their own language is hard. Im taking a Spanish class, and it is pretty different from English, in terms of word conjugation. There's a whole other dimension of irregular verbs, adverbs, pronouns, proverbs. English is quite expansive!

So, the only thing I ask of you is: don't butcher my language, and don't take it for granted.

[Skyblade]

That's a very interesting speech, Sage. I don't take English for granted. It's a beautiful language.

[MeadowR]

I don't take English for granted! I think it's a marvellous language.

Thank you for caring enough to write/type this.

[Rusvul]

   English is most certainly a neat language. To quote Wikipedia,

""Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a grammatical sentence in American English, used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated linguistic constructs."

   I like English, it's convenient for communication and has a word for just about anything I'd like to say- And in the event I don't have the right English word, there's probably a word from another language that we've sort of inducted and that people will probably know. Flambé, off the top of my head. S'great.

   However, I think it is an exaggeration to say that those who use text/net speak, don't indent paragraphs, misspell words frequently, use "there" when they mean "they're", etc. are illiterate. They speak and read and write, and they generally can get their point across and understand what others are saying. Sure, things along those lines can be annoying- some more so than others- but as long as people can communicate, they're using English for its intended purpose. I don't see anything wrong with it, aside from bad grammar/spelling/etc annoying me personally.

(That sounds kind of condescending, but I'm not sure how to phrase it better.)

   I care about grammar, but not enough to care about 'good' and 'well' or 'who' and 'whom.' That's my personal line of diminishing returns, people know what I'm saying regardless and most people don't really care, so... I don't find that level of accuracy to be worth it.

And yes, I totally take English for granted 90% of the time. But I do think about how cool it is occasionally. (And then also sometimes about how some of it makes zero sense. )

[Banya]

I've got to agree with Sage.  Grammar, vocabulary, structure - using a language is an art.  If English is the only language you know, you should know it, or don't call yourself fluent. 
The art and fun of slang is knowing when to use it and often knowing from where and what it originates.  I have never sent a text message, but I understand the use of slang in writing because of its applicability in spoken conversations, despite the fact that while writing, one has much more time to organize their thoughts.

In regard to professional emails: there's little need to sign your name after the first email in a correspondence, as owners of professional email accounts will have signatures.  My signature states my name, degree, and university.  Only in the first email do I conclude with something along the lines of
Best,
Banya