Jake Andryshak
Jerry Tartaglia
English 101
November 12, 2013
The Decline in Literacy The decline of literacy has been something that has changed over time. Words used in the past may not show up in today’s vocabulary. Historical events will impact the writings and the verbal words during that time. Literacy will change according to time eras and with what is going on during that time. Through history the way people spoke to one another and the way they wrote has changed. During the civil war era, people wrote differently. They used a different assortment of words. People back then had a diverse vocabulary that people today do not use. The language and literacy has been molded as each decade past. Events in history have impacted the way people speak and write to one another. During the 50s America was coming off of the Great Depression. Times were pretty great, it seemed like there was an abundance of money. People were living the American Dream. This was the era of the movie “Grease”, with John Travolta. People had their clicks like they do today but each click resembled a gang. People had different words that meant the same thing, for example the word ‘chick’ was used in place of girl. The word ‘bread’ is not the eatable cooked wheat, it actually meant money in the 1950s. In the 1960s, during the decade of the hippies, the meanings of some words changed. When someone said ‘that’s boss’, it meant something that was the best of or something that was great. During the 1960s America was in Vietnam fighting against communism. People back home in America did not like that we were fighting in Vietnam and wanted out. Peace was a big icon back then, people wanted to be laid back and be carefree. The term ‘blitzed’ was used to describe someone has high from smoking marijuana.
In the 1970s the Vietnam War was still going on. People wanted peace, music was changing, and there was a great amount of slang words used in that time period. Scooby-Doo: Where Are You? was a new television series during the war. There was a character on the show named ‘Shaggy’. Shaggy was a laid back guy who was scared of everything. Shaggy’s vocabulary consisted of a word ‘groovy’. “Groovy” was a word used to describe something that was awesome or cool. Also the phrase “far out” was used to describe something that was also impressive and mind blowing. These words were out grown like pants or a t-shirt. They were replaced by new words but they had the same meaning. For example ‘cool’ means something that is cold in temperature. It is cold to the touch but it is not freezing cold. In today’s world, younger generations have been using the word ‘cool’ to describe something that they liked and thought was ‘hip’. Same aspect with the word ‘groovy’, it was used to describe something that was cool or pleasant. It was slang, in the 70s. One could say that the music is ‘groovy’ or that car is groovy, people do not use this anymore. ‘Groovy’ and ‘far out’ are out dated. People do not use these words anymore because they do not fit in with the generation or era of time. History and events that impact people heavily can and will change the way people write and speak. In the days before people could look up information on a computer used to get their knowledge from books. Back then there was not a vast and ever expanding internet that is now present to today’s generations with an infinite amount of information and knowledge. Although in today’s world, the information is presented in a more simple way so that the reader can comprehend it better. Any person can easily read any article on the internet because they are written in the basic form. One might find a hard vocabulary work here or there, but they can find out what it means from some context clues around the word. There is an uncountable amount of articles with an uber amount of different topics and opinions. The authors must write their article so that any one person that is able to read it is also able to understand what the author is trying to say. That is not the same for books though. If someone goes to a library they are going to find a certain book on a topic that they are looking for. The person is not just browsing for any old book that seems interesting. Authors who write books are writing to a specific category of people who are interested in the same things and topics that the author is. Not many people would pick up a book about quantum physics expecting to find inside a recipe about how to bake red velvet cupcakes for mother’s day. Authors on the internet have to write in a basic and general form because they do not know who will stumble on their article on the CNN or Fox News website. There are plenty of ways to communicate with people besides verbally. Mailing letters to communicate with another is becoming obsolete. Text messaging, emails, instant messaging is now changing the way people communicate with others. With these easier ways of passing information to others, the words being used are becoming a lot more basic and shorter. Meaning that there are certain combinations of letters that can be put together to create an abbreviation. These abbreviations can mean numerous different things. ‘LOL’ is a very common abbreviation used that could mean ‘laughing out loud’, ‘lots of love’, and there are many other meanings. ‘Thx’ has been used for some years now to replace writing ‘thanks’. Literacy will change according with what is happening in the world. Some words will become slang and will be out dated, some will not be used anymore. Literacy will decline people cannot help that fact. Literacy is intangible, people cannot mold it and shape it into a way that they want. It cannot be helped that events that occur will change how people talk and write. Technology has influenced the way people write and speak.