To chayav inish livisumay: I meant exactly what I said, regardless of how inexactly I said it. I was well aware of every “error” in my post – they were deliberate. I made them to imitate the errors you made in your post, to highlight the irony of your complaining about adolescents’ use of incorrect speech, while you, yourself, failed to express yourself in proper English. Yes, I think that use of cliches, buzzwords and slang weakens communications skills. The text of most posts in the Coffee Room is a good example of the harm that comes from that kind of speech.
Years ago, when I first saw the low quality of the English in the comments in the YWN web site, I initially attributed it a high percentage of posters for whom English is a second language. However, more recently, I have seem some mediocre writing from people whom I believe are native speakers of English, but who are poorly schooled in standard English, or who choose, for reasons I do not know, to write in a slovenly way when posting on line.
I would like the YWN editors to consider a Coffee Room discussion of the quality of English instruction that takes place in American yeshivas. I believe it is essential that yeshivas and early Jewish education give major emphasis to proper language, whether it is Hebrew, English, Yiddish, Ladino, Farsi, Arabic or any other language. Since the end of the Holocaust, the percentage of Yiddish and Ladino speakers in the world Jewish community has declined, and English and modern Hebrew have become the primary languages of the Jewish people. The quality of Torah scholarship, as well as the ability of frum Jews to engage with the rest of the world, depends heavily on the ability to communicate. Most Torah scholarship outside Israel takes place in the United States, among people for whom English is their native tongue. It is therefore critical to the quality of Torah scholarship that the Talmidim speak and write with precision, accuracy and clarity. Likewise, for frum Jews to engage with the rest of the world in worldly matters, it is no less important that they do so is proper English. English is the language of the US, and Jews should learn standard English as well as any other Americans. With the current and continuing dominance of English in world commerce, industry, science and technology, it is essential that all Jews – frum, not-yet-frum, and otherwise – speak English as well as possible.