If you started talking like that,you’d look nuts! “
Ya, we would!
I am with nfgo3 in this regard. I believe that today’s youth, just as yesterday’s, do not speak properly. Part of that is because their parents do not, and a large measure of that can be directly placed at the feet of the yeshivah systems that do not require excellence in communication skills.
When my mother O”H was in school, one of the grades she received was for proper elocution. My father O”H grew up in a home where only Yiddish was spoken, yet he managed to learn to speak English perfectly, and was a great orator. Both my parents set that fine example for me, and as a result, I, too, spoke grammatically correctly (most of the time, anyway). There is no excuse for poor language skills.
While it is true, deiezooger, that the ikker is to be able to communicate with another person, why can we not communicate as intelligent-sounding human beings, rather than sounding as though we grew up in a barn? Would you want to send a letter to a Rov or to your President, written in childish lingo? I can see it now…
“Hey, Dude,
What’s happening? I got a beastly question 4 u, Reb. Is it, like, um…kosher 2 eat from some meat that got mixed with a drop of milk? I mean, HELLO????? Yo, I need an answer ASAP. That would be totally awesome, Dude.
Shlumiel”