My father used to tell me to 'speak the Queen's English' as he suffered through yet one more Valley Girl conversation sprinkled with the words, like, as if, duh, and um. I didn't know it then, but I was using verbal crutches to express myself and give me time to think. Unfortunately, to him, like meant something completely different and I was using the term in a manner unfamiliar to him.
Fast forward to today. I wonder what kids are learning in school. Really, I do. With programs like Dragon making sure they have no idea how to spell what they are speaking, and texting and Twitter encouraging everyone to take shortcuts, I really wonder if we look or sound like a literate society. Am I isolated and this is an American phenomenon, or is it a worldwide occurrence?
Whatever it is, it impacts me, my clients and my friends pretty much the same way. We've all learned to interpret shortcuts. The issue becomes when my interpretation of the shortcut is different than yours. It's kind of like the water closet v toilet discussion.
