Holy moly ! Is it necessary to learn a new language now to buy something ? Whatever happened to plain English ?
I think the language evolution has been going on for a long time. Remember when newspaper classifieds advertised HOUSES ? And how it all of a sudden changed to HOMES ?
Sorry for the rant. It really pisses me off !
Amazon tells us, when an item is refurbished.
EBay apparently doesn’t, and will be laying off a lot of workers.
Amazon tells us, when an item is refurbished.
EBay apparently doesn’t, and will be laying off a lot of workers.
Amazon tells us, when an item is refurbished.
EBay apparently doesn’t, and will be laying off a lot of workers.
The "language evolution" has been happening since the first word was spoken who knows how many thousands of years ago.
Whether we like it or not, language is DYNAMIC, as dynamic as plants in a garden, because language is all and only about HUMAN NATURE. The changing nature of language bugs me even more than it bugs you because I earn my living as a writer. It irks me no END to see stupid language changes, such as using the term "gender" (a grammatical term) instead of the word "sex" to refer to a person's SEX. I don't like it, but it doesn't care whether I or you like it. The fact that language is constantly shifting is beyond our control.
That language is a living thing that is constantly changing is probably the ONLY thing the Founders forgot when they wrote the Constitution. We are close enough in time to understand perfectly well what the Founders intended, and the words ARE "in stone," so to speak, so don't wrongly conclude that I'm saying the Constitution is a "living document," because it is FIXED, and we know it, we know that the Founders intended it to be fixed.
Language is dynamic, but the IDEAS it expresses are the same. THAT is what is important to remember. As for buying things on Amazon, I do it all the time. As for HOUSES vs HOMES, five letters versus six, and real estate agents have to opt for fewer characters. Also, the word "home" means more than just a house, it means a home. THAT is why they use it, because they want to suggest to the reader that it is not just a house, but a home.