IGCSE Component 3

Dear Ms Kerr

I am writing to you to express my opinions on your article (Twerking, selfie and unlike? Young people don’t speak like that – I should know) which involves your beliefs towards modern day slang. I have a strong connection with the topic and I have felt the need to share my judgement on the topic you are presenting.

I do agree with you that the slang used in the modern world can produce a bad reputation for the young – that the use of certain slang such as twerk or food baby can cause society to describe the younger generation to be unintelligent. ‘Words simply promulgate an unhealthy culture obsessed with being seen in the right places and knowing who’s doing what’ which further strengthens your argument; that the slang words never have a deeper purpose or carry any poetic ‘skin’. Your last paragraphs had the word ‘unhealthy’  and ‘culture’  which is the most suitable terms to describe our current society with slang because it embodies our current situation.

Your presentation of your article I strongly disagree with due to you tending to only have one opinion on slang and not two. Yes, you are expressing an opinion, however without a second view on the matter – this article is more or less a rant than a sophisticated argument. My opinion on slang is quite different to yours that I feel it poses no threat to our ‘beloved’ English language – I was brought up in a society where slang was as frequent as rainy days therefore almost impossible to get away from. Slang has been ‘alive’ since Shakespeare, which reflects poorly on the people who seem to be quite negative on slang since it’s been going on for centuries, making the ‘so-called slang’ of this generation not any different. Slang is fashion – they are trends that disappear.

Your article revolves around that Oxford have added slang words in their Official Oxford ONLINE Dictionary, it being online suggests that it can be deleted and erased with a single click.  It being online means that it is not the true form of the English language but almost a mimic. If we would talk that online dictionary seriously then we should also take another source such as the urban dictionary where users can add words and definitions to words that don’t exist, thus making these words as insignificant as ‘twerk’ or ‘selfie’

After reading through your ‘well-thought’ rant about slang being an ‘unhealthy culture’, you do however use a form of slang without realising it. You had used Google (a popular ‘search’ engine known to many) as a verb, you had ‘to google some of these slang terms’ thus being quite ironic since you are using an internet slang. With this word you have gone against your motives of disliking the use of slang yet you use it. The correct term is to ‘search’ not ‘google’. There are several indications of the use of ‘Right’ which in an appropriate sentence would be fine, however you had used it by itself, therefore lowering the formality of your article – your selection of words such as google or the use of right are inappropriate and I believe they were unintentional.

Overall, I believe you had a valid point and as the old Chinese saying goes ‘strong start, weak finish’. And much like that phrase your article is speaking the truth, but is completely wrong, a paradox. You were strong with your initial objective, revealing how foolish slang were but could not deal a lethal blow. You begin to trail from a sophisticated argument to a informal rant as you tend to shy away from your point and instead use unnecessary quotations/examples. The use of this disrupts the flow and causes your ‘rant’ to become less enjoyable and more irritating.

I hope you take these into consideration.

Teo Bagtas