I recently read an article by Isabelle Kerr, which was very ironically entitled “Twerking, selfie and unlike? Young people don’t speak like that – I should know”. I agree with Kerr, being a proud 20-year old who is part of the younger generation she so profusely despises, she should know. Why then, in her article, does she constantly use slang that she so vehemently says young people do not use? She seems to contradict herself even in a serious matter like telling the older generation the truth about the younger generation. While I do agree with her message about the younger generation, I believe she is conveying her opinion in a completely misguided manner.

First off, she can’t boast about being part of the younger generation and then go against her argument and use slang in what seems to be every other sentence. In one example she uses the word “reality check” which in itself is an idiom first recorded in use in 1960 and meaning “a wake-up call”. Idioms such as reality check started themselves as slang and have now made their way into the common English language. So much so that Ms Kerr doesn’t seem to even understand her own argument and contradicts herself entirely! Also, her sweeping generalisation that not all young people speak like this is completely, in my experience, inaccurate. I should know, I go to a comprehensive secondary school in Central London! I have heard the vast majority of slang that she stated that young people don’t use. She’s open to her opinion, of course, and I agree with the idea that not all young people do use slang, but she can’t just generalise in her ‘serious’ article and call it fact; it isn’t fact, it’s an opinion. Slang is actually a subculture of the younger generation. Nobody that I know speaks to their parents in slang terms. Slang is a language for the younger generation to communicate with and represents their specific cultures and beliefs. Slang will differ between countries, counties and even parts of a single city. If slang represents the individual, then it should be looked upon with a graceful outlook, as at the end of the day, it doesn’t affect you unless you choose for it to do so.

She also brings up the shortening of words like “seriously” to “Srsly”. What I doubt that Ms Kerr understands, and really should, is that there is a difference between using slang in everyday life and the notion of trying to save time text messaging by making words shorter. An abbreviation is, in a way, a type of text messaging language like slang is a language in itself. So I ask Ms Kerr, why not strive for any type of originality, even in language? Why not place the words in the Oxford dictionary if it’s a common language between the younger generation of Britain or anywhere around the world for that matter?

She also brings up William Shakespeare several times in her article near the end. William Shakespeare is quite an interesting person to bring up, seeing as he invented a lot of slang words in his plays that are used in everyday life including assassination (Macbeth – Act I, Scene VII) and fashionable (Troilus and Cressida – Act III, Scene III). “Shakespeare will be turning in his grave”? I think not. Shakespeare, being the slang creating playwright that he was, would most probably be overjoyed with the younger generation creating their own language. Her point seems questionable and I would even go as far as ask if she even knows anything about William Shakespeare and the impact he left on the world.

One word I had to look up is, “Food Baby”, just as Ms Kerr had to look up the definition of Twerking. A food baby is (Noun) A metaphorical baby in one’s stomach, created by over-eating. Fair enough, the definition is in the word. I don’t see a problem with using slang, it’s a language that the younger generation has made and I respect that, it’s practically poetic. Miss Kerr, on the other hand, disagrees entirely and says it’s a ” pitiful emblem” of the younger generation. However if she’s trying to put across the idea that just because she don’t know what twerking is, she doesn’t use any slang, well, that is completely nonsensical. I speak English and yet I don’t know every word in the English language. It almost seems like Miss Kerr is arguing against twerking simply because the younger generation say it. Is it even slang, though? Twerking has been a dance move for a long time and popular celebrities like Miley Cyrus, while not the best role model for the younger generation in any way, decided to capitalise on an already well-known dance move. As Miley Cyrus is quite well-known with the kids, the move then came into common usage. Twerking is not a slang word like you suggest in your article. Her use of “Regardless” at the beginning of your next paragraph also suggests that she even gets bored with her own argument and doesn’t care about her own point and if that is the case, how can anybody read this article and sympathise with her – where exactly is her argument going?

In conclusion to my response to Ms Kerr Article “Twerking, selfie and unlike? Young people don’t speak like that – I should know” while I do firmly believe in the point you are trying to convey, I strongly oppose the way you are trying to put it through in your article and think that in the future, you should think a bit more before you publish an article where you are strongly against a controversial subject like how people speak.