Hacker News Reader

Comment by jasode | Hacker News Reader

To me, the follow 2 sentences look like they contradict each other:

>It's not progress of culture or language, simply an increase of quantity of slang

>, I never argued that the vernacular / slang being generated today wouldn't be used or become accepted by society at large.

If those 2 sentences are not contradictions, can you clarify your comment?

Isn't "accepted by society at large" part of what culture __is__ ?

View on HN

Something being accepted by society does not imply progress.

You're using "progress" as a judgement of something that's "better" or "improved" ... like "technological progress".

A "language progress" is a movement in usage and meaning. We "progressed" from "thy" "thee" to "your" "you" etc. It doesn't mean the words starting with "y" are "better" or "clearer" (in fact, they are the opposite of the previous formal/informal distinctions.) Nevertheless, language/culture has moved on.

I agree with the example of the macro usage of thy->thee->you/your as being an instance of progression, but I don't see the current trends in internet slang as a parallel example of something that will have such a long lasting effect on our language as a whole, but instead, well, just what I said, I see it as a trend that will eventually be a ghost. This is a prediction, of course.

it's called pro-gress. the optimistic interpretation is for a move to the better

There is no progress. English is not better than it used to be. It was not wrong in Shakespeare's day and it's not wrong now. We have new words for new things. Adaptation is not progress.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com