To Isabelle Kerr,

Regarding your article which conveys slang to be substantially used by the ‘youth’, I comprehensively disagree to how a certain way an individual speaks correlates to ‘so much youth unemployment’. I’m discordant that a person’s dialect would stop them from getting a job. That would be prejudice (judging someone by their features/appearance). The dialect of one human being has refined and evolved, which is why you, Isabelle, are inadequate and cannot understand the meaning of it.

The development of slang commenced many generations ago, where words such as ‘bounce’ and ‘crib’ correlated to someone leaving and to someone’s house. In this day and age, slang emerges when people (mainly youth) use acronyms to express their thoughts. Words such as ‘lol’ (laugh out loud) is an example of this. When people text in this era, people use ‘srsly’ as an alternative to ‘seriously’ and ‘ite’ instead of ‘alright’. The difference between these words, when spoken, would be unrecognisable. Therefore words such as this wouldn’t affect people’s language.

Connected to this, texting and messaging has evolved in recent years, leading to an culmination  of people using slang in text. Slang in messaging has provided an easier and quicker platform to communicate. In addition the internet has also evolved and many people from older generations, as opposed to younger generations, would be sceptical about this. They may even consider the youth to be as ‘shameful’ as you did, Isabelle. However, I believe that slang is a useful way for the younger generation to communicate and express themselves, utilising a different source of ‘language’ to exhibit their ideas. It even allows them to communicate without many other people knowing what they mean.

Slang can be contrasted with cockney rhyme. Cockney rhyme is a dialect; allied to slang, that uses rhyme to express meaning. For example, ‘apples and pears’ would mean stairs. Cockney rhyme is a certain dialect that has been used for centuries, which is considered by many, as a normal thing to do. There are clear parallels between the two. Both of them use a different array of vocabulary to convey and speak a different way. Yet why is  one considered as superior due to it being around for centuries?

It perplexes me to think that slang is the sole reason for ‘youth unemployment’. Personally, it puzzles me to think that there is ‘no hope’ for my generation because many people use a dialect that has been advancing for some time. I believe that this is a totally unique way in which the generation I live in speak, where we use equitable literary terms in an acronym to provide a different meaning.  In contrast with past generations who use slang, ‘take a chill pill’ uses no literary terms. Where as people in my generation use acronym’s like ‘rofl’ to convey a laughing theme (laughing on floor laughing).

According to yourself Isabelle, ‘Shakespeare will be turning in his grave’. This argument is invalid. Firstly the words contained in Shakespeare’s context wouldn’t have existed in the ‘Oxford dictionary’. Words like ‘thee, thou and art’ were widely used within Shakespeare’s time but didn’t appear in the Oxford dictionary. This would therefore mean you’re incorrect Isabelle, because  the English language that Shakespeare introduced doesn’t correlate with the English language that you think is ‘right’.

Furthermore, you display your argument about ‘The Oxford dictionary online’. It is important to remember that the online dictionary can be altered in the click of the button. This therefore means words you stated such as : ‘twerk’ and ‘selfie’ can be deleted instantly. So why do you revolve your life around saying things are right or wrong when they could be deleted instantly?

To conclude, using a morally incorrect term in prejudice doesn’t suggest that the younger generation can or cannot get a job based on their dialect. I completely disagree that the younger generation are ‘at fault’ for using slang; it’s been at the forefront of many generations. I find it unfair that other dialects that have clear parallels to slang, are considered as superior towards it. Thus I believe  that the younger generation speak the same, if not better English than people that have been living in contrast to different generations.

Yours sincerely, Sonny Daykin