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  1. awlxaĺan awlxaĺan

    Is 'wait' being used as an interjection at the beginning of a sentence really that new a usage?

    Sunday, 13-Mar-16 00:23:22 UTC from web
    1. orungano orungano

      @awl I'd be surprised

      Sunday, 13-Mar-16 00:23:46 UTC from web
      1. awlxaĺan awlxaĺan

        @tiffany It isn't but I had read an article, now forgetting which one, where it was explaining it as the thing of 2016.

        Sunday, 13-Mar-16 00:27:56 UTC from web
        1. orungano orungano

          @awl People who think language is in decline are funny

          Sunday, 13-Mar-16 00:28:54 UTC from web
          1. awlxaĺan awlxaĺan

            @tiffany ha, and to think I used to be one of them far as English goes

            Sunday, 13-Mar-16 00:29:22 UTC from web
            1. orungano orungano

              @awl I would have been too but my course has taught me so much about English that I see it in an entirely different way

              Sunday, 13-Mar-16 00:30:03 UTC from web
              1. awlxaĺan awlxaĺan

                @tiffany More I have studied outside of comparative linguistics when it comes to history, the more it's obvious that language evolves. It doesn't decline unless we're talking usage in numbers.

                Sunday, 13-Mar-16 00:31:30 UTC from web
          2. Zenneth Zenneth

            @tiffany I've actually pondered about this theme
            it's not that it's on a decline, it's that most people only know basic conversational terms and a hand-full of adjectives, to those people such a level of understanding is more than enough to fulfill their lives' needs, but on the other hand people who study language have a vastly superior grasp on it, as well has a much more extensive vocabulary, to them this knowledge is the norm and the standard from which they guide that observation.
            So, having that in mind, such an observation makes sense, but it's a hasty generalization

            Sunday, 13-Mar-16 00:49:53 UTC from web
            1. awlxaĺan awlxaĺan

              @zennx Imagine if literacy was still taught only to the higher stations of society.

              Sunday, 13-Mar-16 00:52:27 UTC from web
              1. Zenneth Zenneth

                @awl there would be a lot less dumb posts on social media for starters

                Sunday, 13-Mar-16 00:53:27 UTC from web
            2. orungano orungano

              @zennx That's pretty astute actually. The fact of the matter is that people have been arguing declinism for decades, probably centuries even. What's really happening is things like functional theory where we develop new words because they're useful to us (e.g. "selfie" is just an easier way of saying "picture of myself"). People probably got mad at Shakespeare for coming up with "skim milk" but I think that language has always been about refining it over and over so that it becomes more efficient; that's really what the older generations are upset with: the self-awareness that language is malleable and shaped as we need it to be.

              Sunday, 13-Mar-16 00:55:26 UTC from web
              1. Zenneth Zenneth

                @tiffany language, and English as a prime example, thrives on contractions, shortenings and abbreviations, the more people try to cling to the past the harder, and faster it will change, and as can be seen today, the harder it is to learn or to use correctly the easier it is for it mutate to something COMPLETELY different and the original language will die (eg. Latin).

                Sunday, 13-Mar-16 01:03:15 UTC from web
                1. orungano orungano

                  @zennx it's a really interesting discussion. I'd bite but I'm hella tired

                  Sunday, 13-Mar-16 01:04:35 UTC from web
                  1. Zenneth Zenneth

                    @tiffany word, I'm trying to alter my sleep schedule, so I'm only going to stay up for like 20 more mins, after that, dream realm here I come

                    Sunday, 13-Mar-16 01:07:54 UTC from web
    2. Scribus Scribus

      @awl Wait, what?

      Sunday, 13-Mar-16 00:45:43 UTC from MuSTArDroid
      1. awlxaĺan awlxaĺan

        @scribus I'm on to you

        Sunday, 13-Mar-16 00:48:56 UTC from web