The reign of social media lives on as the New Oxford dictionary (“The world’s most trusted dictionary) named ‘unfriend’ the word of the year. Yes, as in: “Some whack-job keeps invited me to play Farmville so I unfriended his lame ass.” Another point for Facebook, and another hit to society’s overall intelligence. To ‘unfriend’ someone may be the ultimate diss on the interwebs, but in reality, Oxford is just verbing a noun.

To make matters worse, other finalists for the word of the year included: sexting, intexticated, tramp stamp and deleb. For those not as in the loop as the New Oxford word of the year panel, deleb is defined as a dead celebrity. I, for one, have never heard the word ‘deleb’ used in everyday conversation, but what do I know? I’m still over here thinking the correct term was to ‘defriend.’ Embarrassing.

While these words are culturally clever and all, I can guarantee word-enthusiasts all over the world are groaning right now. I’m just wondering how long it takes before ‘WTF,’ ‘LOL’ and ‘UR2GR82B4GOT10’ get their moment of glory. Also wondering how long it will take my spell check to realize ‘unfriend’ is legit now. Seriously, what is this proto-language and where do we come up with it?

Texting: we all do it. A lot.

It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s especially useful when making a phone call isn’t an option (like at work or in class where you technically shouldn’t be using your phone…or when you want to flirt with a guy without being too committal.).  It’s convenience is part of the reason  it’s become so popular over the last several years.

However, not everyone (Read: crotchety old people) thinks it’s so great – many critics claim that texting is contributing to the deterioration of the English language. Critics worry that the common practice of using abbreviations and shorthand in text messages will cause people begin to speaking in shorthand, too. They also claim that students are turning in papers riddled with text-message slang.

WTF are they talking about? I don’t know where they get that idea from. OK, so maybe I have been known to throw a “BRB,” “LOL,” or “OMG,” into conversation, but whatev. I can still read and write! Read More »