Ms. Chavis
1113/Comp. 1
February 12, 2015 I H8 Txt Msgs: How Texting Is Wrecking Our Language Analysis “They are destroying it: pillaging our punctuation; savaging our sentences; raping our vocabulary. And they must be stopped.” This quote from John Humphrys' essay “I H8 Txt Msgs: How Texting Is Wrecking Our Language” clearly shows where he stands on the subject of how “texters” are ruining our English language by abbreviating a lot of our words. How people, more specifically the young ones are being lazy with how they text these days because they believe it really saves them a sufficient amount of time. They have transformed so many of our English words. Humphrys published “I H8 Txt Msgs: How Texting Is Wrecking Our Language” on September 23, 2007. John Humphrys is the also the star of the TV show …show more content…
“Celebrity Mastermind”. He is the founder of the “Kitchen Table Charities Trust,” a charity that funds projects to help some of the poorest people on the planet. John Humphrys' article is ineffectively written due to his use of difficult vocabulary, his lack of referrals, and his angry tone. In this essay, “I H8 Txt Msgs: How Texting Is Wrecking Our Language,” Humphrys begins with expressing his love for the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). He writes about how he always has a copy of the OED on hand. He seems to be truly faithful to the way our language is spelled and how it is written. He discusses how more and more people are changing our language in order to “save” time in their busy lifestyles. Humphrys asks, “Have you ever heard anything quite so daft? No time to make one tiny key-stroke (sorry: key stroke).” He goes on to talk about how upsetting and deeply troubling this matter is to him. Towards the middle of Humphrys' essay, he discusses how the “texters” have the most benefit of the doubt with how little the cost is to text compared to voice messages and calls. He also talks about how he is annoyed and also disappointed with himself for how he has modified his own writing style. At the end of the essay, Humphrys claims, “Now I find myself slipping into sloppy habits, abandoning capital letters and using rows of dots. But at least I have not succumbed to “text-speak” and I wish the OED had not hoisted the white flag either.” The first way that John Humphrys ineffectively writes “I H8 Txt Msgs: How Texting Is Wrecking Our Language” is his difficult use of his vocabulary. Vocabulary is defined as “the body of words known to an individual person.” Humphrys uses words such as “daft, pillaging, masochistic, grotesque, ambiguity, fuddy-duddy, and sinister” all throughout his essay. These words are more scarce than most. The author's use of these challenging words might cause the reader’s attention to start to stray, especially if they are having to stop reading during every paragraph to look up the definitions of all these strenuous words. Humphrys' use of his difficult words may make it very unpleasing for some people to read his essay. However though, his selection of perplexing words make him look as if he is highly educated, and it also seems like he is being boastful. If Humphrys didn't use these difficult words it would make his essay not as believable to his audience because of what he is writing about, the proper way our language should be written. With Humphrys' words being more challenging it may attract a different kind of audience, an audience that is more intellectually inclined, as Humphrys demonstrates to be himself. He might lose a decent amount of readers this way. The second way that Humphrys ineffectively writes “I H8 Txt Msgs: How Texting Is Wrecking Our Language” is his lack of referrals that he uses.
Referral is defined as “the act of sending someone to another person or place for treatment, help, or advice.” He refers to the Oxford English Dictionary and editor of the OED, Angus Stevenson, as his only resources. Humprhys does not have any other reference other than the OED. He even says himself that the OED “has fallen victim to fashion.” Humphrys' own quote from his essay “I H8 Txt Msgs: How Texting Is Wrecking Our Language” is patronizing his one and only resource. That would make his audience think that he doesn't even have a reasonable argument. Which would make his audience feel as if he is just writing about nonsense. The OED sets in stone the way our American language has adapted and Humphrys only refers to the OED to show his audience the severity of what they are doing to our language. He should have found more credible sources to refer to in his essay that could make it more convincing to the readers. For once it is published in the OED, makes it the proper way to spell or write the
word(s). The third way that Humphrys ineffectively writes his essay, “I H8 Txt Msgs: How Texting Is Wrecking Our Language,” is his angry tone that he uses. Tone is defined as “a particular quality, way of sounding, modulation, or intonation of the voice as expressive of some meaning, feeling, or spirit.” Humphrys does not hesitate to show how much it has angered him that the OED has now been ruined in his eyes. Humphrys clearly states his strong opinion on the matter in this analogy from his essay, “It is the relentless onward march of the texters, the SMS (Short Message Service) vandals who are doing to our language what Genghis Khan did to his neighbors eight hundred years ago.” He compares how the “texters” are taking over and conquering our language just like Genghis Khan crudely did to build and expand his empire. Humphrys' outraged tone does get his point across to his audience with how serious of an issue this can turn out to be, but it could also offend certain people the way he puts to use some of his words. Humphrys is damaging his essay by choosing his own audience with his angered tone. His furious tone makes him look as if he is just discussing this topic because he is irritated with it, not because it really is “wrecking our language.” John Humphrys' essay, “I H8 Txt Msgs: How Texting Is Wrecking Our Language,” is ineffectively written due to his use of difficult vocabulary, his lack of referrals, and his angry tone. These three elements combined make John Humphrys' essay unenjoyable to read. The more challenging words that Humphrys chose to use throughout his essay could easily make his audience feel as if they are mentally sluggish to an extent that they do not even finish reading his “showy” essay, causing it to be ineffective by not making its rounds in society. Secondly, Humphrys' only back up is the Oxford English Dictionary and even they have succumbed to the “fall out” of our language. Which could make the readers have the wrong impression of the seriousness of the message he is exaggerating in this essay. Texting is more popular now than it has ever been. Humphrys needs to be able to attract an audience, not push them away with confusing words, minimal resources, and a bitter tone. He could have written it much more appealing to “texters.” Humphrys' main point is almost ignored with how angrily opinionated his tone is. His exhausted usage of his exasperation is very outspoken and could instantly make some readers retreat to his opposing side of this matter making his essay very ineffective.