Good English cannot be reduced to ‘txt spk’

PASSING a third-level college, I was bemused and, contrarily, depressed to see their sign announcing themselves as a ‘collage’.

Never mind the lack of an apostrophe in their name (I’m not wishing for the moon here), it’s the fact that an educational establishment expects people to pay serious money to be taught there. It really is the last straw.

In a world becoming dominated by ‘txt spk’ more and more, and in a climate where grammar is seen as uncool and unnecessary, the English language is being pushed into incoherent oblivion.

If words can be equated to car parts, then a knowledge of grammar can determine whether you drive a Porsche or a Punto. If they can be equated to building materials, they can determine whether the end result is a rickety lean-to or a state-of-the-art, eco-friendly mansion. Without a fundamental grasp of our language, we are not ordering steak with potato au gratin but merely pointing to our mouths and saying ‘hungry’ in a loud voice.

English is a beautiful and complex language. It is rich and versatile, but without even a basic grasp of how it is put together, it is only so many words.

With so many bad examples seen not just in text messages, posters and such like, but also in schools, government buildings, bookshops and libraries, don’t you think it is time that we stopped expecting our children to learn good English by osmosis?

Anne-Marie Curtin

5 Marble Hall Gardens

Ballinlough Road

Cork