The Disappearance of Sensuality in the English Language

Over half a century ago, George Orwell said that the English language was in a bad state (2259). It still is. As many scientists have believed about the sun, the English language is shrinking. To be more specific, its words are being more and more condensed as time goes by. The condensation of the English language is due to the extreme use of acronyms as well as other forms of abbreviation. Especially here in the United States, since we are a fast pace society, we seem to like to abbreviate everything. Much of this is due to our extreme use of television and computer technology and the commercialization of both. We like things simple and instantaneous. Television and computer media conveys information in these two ways. Use of such media is a result of our attitude towards thinking. Most of us do not like to think (although after reading this article, I hope it will be apparent to you that I'm one of the few who do, since a lot of thought would have gone into it!). Rather, we simply like to take in information that we are given. So the abbreviating of words conveys information faster to us. Through abbreviation, we can skip over the long spelling of certain names and titles and simply initial them. For example, instead of spelling the full name "Alcoholics' Anonymous" we can initial it "AA". Initialing gets across the message faster. However, the overuse of abbreviations, especially acronyms, is a threat to not just the English language but also the very human experiences and cultures that the English language has grown out of.