The King's English

I always liked the intro for the Sean Hannity talk show. It said every day, "Language, Culture, Borders."

Language, as in the ENGLISH language, is all but lost in America and maybe the free world. I am not referring to illiteracy, but more along the lines of people who should have learned PROPER English, but they sound more like a member of Bone Thugs in Harmony (I'm well aware some of you may not know who that is, and you are the better for it.). We live in a day and age where people truly may not even see the need to speak properly. Vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, just proper English.  If "evil communications corrupt good manners", the opposite is true. Did you ever think about how proper English creates proper manners? Think of the Victorian era. Think Early America. Think the 1950's, then soon thereafter proper English decayed, and proper etiquette followed. Enter immorality and irreverence.

"How do you do, good day, Yes Sir, Yes Ma'am, Mr., Mrs., Miss", etc. But that's not what we have in America today. We have, "what up dog, playa, my nigga, yeah, yo, and fo shizzle." Take it however you want it, language IS a direct result of culture. The language we hear today should tell you exactly where you are in the age. Let that sink in.  Think of all of the illegal aliens coming into our wonderful country, 25 million strong now. Do you think they are learning the English language? Most aren't going to school. Most are not coming here for education. 

When I worked for the state of Florida as a juvenile corrections officer, I saw language deterioration at its worst. The "hip-hop" culture, like it or not, has taken over the language of our youth. Remember, it's not a racial issue, but a culture issue. 

Many of the white youth felt pressured to look, dress, act, and even sound black. The population of blacks to whites was 20 to 1. Honestly, you had to kinda learn slang as a officer, just to understand what was going on, and to actually carry on a conversation with the kids. Then they get these new, hip, words-of-today, counterfeit bibles which have borderline profanity in them, and the vicious cycle continues.

Everyone human being on the face of the Earth is under an influence.  YOU ARE NOT ORIGINAL no matter how much you say you are. You heard it from someone else. Who is your influence? How much slang, or even bad English do you use? First Corinthians talks about a trumpet making a distinct sound. Are you distinct? Or do you sound like everyone else out there? Your family members, friends, co-workers? Look, I am one of the world's worst when it comes to English and grammar. Ask my wife. But I am making an effort. 

I love seeing professional athletes in press conferences, that have NO IDEA how to actually talk. Yeah, they say many words, but they can't talk. They sound like they're from the streets, but they live multi-million dollar homes. Obviously, this current recession is not affecting the professional sports industry. It's funny to watch Sportscenter when they actually show the quotation as they're reading it. They have to read verbatim as they trod through what looks like 3rd grade scribble that is actually from 25 and 30 year old men.

How will your children sound in 10 years? It is up to us to train them. Don't count on the government and their education policies that are about as affective as the United Nations peace process. With my children, I have to remind myself of the words or phrases I use, because you know kids...they repeat everything. I'm not naive enough to think they will never hear profanity, and I pray they have enough character and fortitude to know better than to repeat it, but God forbid that they should hear it come out of my mouth. I've been telling youth for years, that profanity is nothing more than an excuse for ignorance and laziness.

I love reading the Websters 1828 dictionary. It's a good practice every now and then to just pick a word and learn it. There is a need for different dialogue, and vocabulary among Christians today, a great need.

Don't let the media fool you saying the great language barrier is all due to illiteracy. It's not, I tell you. It is due to laziness, pop-culture, and degeneration. Think about it! The more they get away from the King's English of the Bible (which was used for English classes no more than 60 years ago), the more the devil can keep throwing in more corrupt, loose, slang-filled, so-called Bibles. 

I know, RIGHT!!! (SLANG) (this is Jessica, his wife...as I proofread this, I admit that I say this ALL of the time...*insert sheepish grin here*)