I am writing this article in response to Isabelle Kerr’s “Twerking, selfie and unlike?” piece. I think its important that we stand together in disagreement with her point of view. Whilst I understand how “twerking” and other words like this make Isabelle Kerr “wanna vom”, this article will argue against Isabelle’s view that words that are used in everyday language are “pitiful emblems of the current young generation’s contribution to language”.  Isabelle’s leading argument concerns the future of the English language. I am against this as it doesn’t matter what the future may think, these words will help young people understand the present.

Language that is currently used shall be added to online dictionaries to stop people wondering what they mean. People are confused about the meaning of these words because they may have a different type of language to the younger generations.  The online dictionaries have announced plans to include a variety of modern day words that are used by the youths. Including words such as smh (shake my head ), selfie and lmao ( laughing my ass off) . Isabelle Kerr think that this is ‘sad’. However, I would say that adults use words that younger people do not understand  and therefore they have to refer to a dictionary. Similarly younger people have a different type of language that adults do not understand and they will be provided with a source which explains what the meaning of the word is.

“Words like twerking, unlike and selfie are nothing more than slang” Do you agree? I dont. I think these words are like any other words as they still have a meaning. The only reason words such as “twerking”  have a bad reputation is because they were invented by the younger generations. The use of language by today’s youth is seen as a disgrace to the English language, smh, if this were another time and the youth were not stereotyped then the use of ‘slang’  would be seen as evolutionary. Isabelle Kerr says that Shakespeare will be “turning in his grave”. This is incorrect. Shakespeare invented a word when he saw or felt things that couldn’t be described using the words available, for example if there was some sort of movement such as “twerking”, it would need to have a name so that people would remember what it means. Shakespeare would think that this idea of creating new words such as “twerking” is good because he once done this. If no one was to give a word to something then no one would remember what it is or means.

Lastly, in the article young people are referred to “ASBO-wielding yobs”. As a young person myself, I am offended by what she has said about not just me but others such as my friends. Although me and my friends use this language on a regular basis, this does not mean that we are “ASBO-wielding yobs”, it just means that we are using these words to fit into the world that we live in. People may agree with Isabelle because they are worried that they will be lost in todays language and theirs will be forgotten.