Category: IGCSE Courswork

Bare Vexed – (A response to the article: Twerking, selfie and unlike? Young people don’t speak like that – I should know by Ms Isabelle Kerr) – (Complete)

March 18, 2016 / / 1 Comment

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.

Mr Waugh – Now &Then – Final Piece

September 23, 2015 / / 3 Comments

The time is 18:15 and you’re on the way out of the house. The first thing you see is a lengthy corridor which goes to an elevator that takes ages to get to your floor, then you go down to the ground floor where you come out to street level. You come out to the pavement which is made out of a thick concrete texture (like most pavements are), the smell is distant and doesn’t have much to it until you go past the fish shop where the smell of old fish cause the hate and disgust to rise in your nostrils. It is still light outside and the atmosphere is calm and comfortable due to the light around you causing a sense of safety and security.

You then pass by a countless stream of shops, most of which are well-known shops like Waitrose and Tesco. You also get quite a homely feel in a charity shop as the shop never seems to change and always has that distinct smell of old books and that lavender perfume your grandmother always used to wear. Then you come to the large department stores like Debenhams and John Lewis which have distinctive looks and features to them like the company logo and historic location which go back over 50 years.

You then come to Oxford Circus, which is a nightmare to go through as there are many cars zooming through the junction. The hordes of people who barge you out the way and linger in groups straddling the entire pavement do nothing to ease your passage. The best way to describe the sound is the analogy of a party in a circus and everybody in the world has been invited to. You then escape around the corner to a wide length street that stretches towards the famous Liberty department store. This carries on down until you find a regal large building you go inside and see a carpet which leads to a large elegant staircase which comes onto an exquisite bar and into a large room, you sit down and smell the fear and excitement in the air as the curtain rises.

The curtain closes and you are overcome with emotions of sadness and happiness due to the fact you liked the show and at the same time, you are sad that it is over. You then come out of the theatre and see the abundance of people in the area, mingling with the other people who came out of the theatre along with you when the show finished. You then go down the street and come to the junction which you can see and hear is vastly different from what it was 3 hours ago. There are very few people out, but those who are have shady looks to them and it takes a long hard to look around the area to catch your bearings. It is very dark outside and the only light comes from the street lamps and very few shops that won’t close until the early hours of the morning. The light is just about bright enough to see the shady characters that pass the street and always seem to have their hands in their pocket. This gives the impression that they have a knife in their pocket and they are on the hunt for their first target.

You then come to a very dark high street with just one street lamp in sight and a distant shop that has a light outside. Nowhere is open except the Tesco Express that is open 24/7. You can no longer smell that horrible fish smell which is replaced by the smell of cigarettes and alcohol which lingers in your nostrils. You then come to the final stretch of street and then into a quite private piece of land which takes you to a large electronic-fob operated door which you open. You then wait for few minutes for the elevator to get to the ground floor whilst you examine the area and all it quirks; like the bench and mirror which is left to the wooden door leading to the 21 flights of stairs to each individual floor. The lift finally comes and you enter. You then elevate up 7 floors and find a long corridor. You make your way straight down the corridor where you reach the flat at the very end. You get your keys and open the door. It’s completely silent…..