20/05/2015
Acronyms Vs Spelling
What will become of the age after this one? If the jet age is sinking this slowly and rapidly, what will become of the age to come?
We've lost our Father tongue already. Our dialect isn't our thing. How many sons, daughters, even parents can speak their actual dialect? Yorubas', Igbos', Hausas' and other tribes; a whooping sum of 528 languages; some of which, today, have gone into extinction: lost and never to be remembered. Many even take as a thing of pride, the fact that they can't speak their dialect.
Just as we are constantly losing touch of our dialect, we are beginning to lose touch of our spellings. Our constant use of acronyms, abbreviation, and odd exclamations is a proof of that. As new years unfold and people shout for joy, I wonder sometimes if they aren't shouting away values, virtues and landmarks. Young children old enough to use the internet and who can use instant messengers: yahoo, blackberry messenger, whatsApp etcetera, can no longer spell correctly. I know someone who can't spell, 'Friend' anymore or can you abbreviate it to, 'Firend'? If some don't add, 'shey', 'o', 'ehen', 'naa', 'abi o', etcetera, they feel something is missing. IJN, LLNP, DP, PM, BRB, WULLNP, TTYL (but he won't call later though. Shouldn't it be CWYL?), ATM, etcetera. Strangely, we know what most of them mean and are too shy to ask when we don't know.
Abbreviation and acronym what have we done to thee in this jet and or computer age? Tomorrow, just like famous artistes have their words engraved in Oxford dictionary, so will these new ways and patterns of writing be adopted and we would have lost the landmarks which our Fathers have so dearly preserved.
Let us teach our sons what we have almost lost today. Let this be a reminder. Let's avoid arguments and questions like, 'did dinosaurs truly exist?'