General Chat

...on the news earlier - they introduced a story about a girl and said words to the effect "her ticker had stopped tocking".

Is this just to feed the dumbed down minds of the dim percentage of the population or those adults who mysteriously favour using baby talk?

If people are too dim to understand "grown up" words then they should not be trusted with a television remote control - let alone a brain!

Is the English language going to potty?

The thing is, you get sensitive youngsters watching at that time.
Don't you remember talking in code when you didn't want the
kids to understand. (If you're middle class, substitute 'talking in
French ;-))

If people are dead, then they're dead. No fluffy way to explain it. I'm presume that's what is meant by a ticker not tocking

Haven't seen or heard the news item Errol is referring to (link?) but I abhor dumbing down. If children see such a news item then it's up to the parents to explain what being dead means. If the kids can't cope with that then keep them well away from any sources of news items and wrap the cotton wool a bit tighter.

I agree but then I think the general standard of journalism in all media is deteriorating.

MariaCeleste - no link because it was on television.

Chrissie - you are correct about standards in journalism.

SueCar - could they not watch Newsround?

It just beggars belief - and there are countless examples in both the broadcast and the print media on a daily basis.

The English language is a wonderful composition of varied words & sayings that just seem to roll off the tongue.

But it is interspersed with taboo words & unacceptable phrases. These may be made up of a few letters of the alphabet & arranged in a particular order. But in their power to cause offence, naughty words might as well be weapons. Even in the most polite society, we sometimes permit language capable of wreaking profound devastation.

Before I shuffle off this planet, (and I'm in no great rush to do that yet!), I feel I have a duty to register my disgust & abhorrence on one topic at least that irks me greatly - that is the amount of swearing heard all around the place nowadays, more often than not involving disaffected youngsters.

It saddens me that so many seem to regard loud swearing in public as wholly acceptable & almost as some sort of rite of passage simply to look cool in the presence of their peers. It is usually the loudest & the noisiest who tend to get everybody's attention.

Shouting out many profanities, some of which they would probably not be able to spell, if asked, effectively reinforces that goal. The fake sign language interpreter Thami Jantjie, last seen at the Nelson Mandela memorial service gesticulating gibberish, would be hard pressed to explain their meaning.

"Down with that sort of thing!" as Fr Ted said once.

Dermot I must agree with you, although I also hear it from older people who should know better - with adults it very often demonstrates a total lack of command of the English language and is used by those devoid of wit and intelligence - I even had it in a PM recently! (Mind you, I was not entirely surprised, given the person sending it, as it probably forms a natural part of their daily vocabulary.)

'Simply English' by Simon Heffer - recommended for anyone wishing to put a polish on written or spoken words.