The English language is getting dumber

[Anonymous]

I have mixed feelings. I grew up working class but was reading at 4 so I had the exposure to written language, and I'm also a boomer. I think what grates on me more is the use of language to sort of mask reality. Tonight I griped about references to the US so far not using kinetic methods in Iran. Maybe that evolved from military and spy speak, but there seem to be a lot of words used to distance us from the reality of what is being talked about. This includes the corporate word. The first time I ever heard the term "upskilling," for example, it just plain pissed me off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keyboarding simply refers to a computer keyboard vs typewriter keys. It's a different skill, although similar. Learning touch typing is the focus of both.

Lots of nouns are now also used as verbs:

Parenting
Googling
Emailing
texting
Ubering

It's actually called "verbing" when it happens.

We called them gerunds. Don't get me started on dangling participles.

Aren't gerunds the opposite? Using a verb as a noun? "Shearing a sheep requires skill."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Typing is done on a typewriter. Keyboarding is done on a keyboard.

First, the keys of a typewriter are a keyboard. And what is the verb for typing on your phone?

Typewriter keys were never called a keyboard. It was typewriting because you were writing using type ( the metal letters that stamped the ink ribbon) as opposed to writing and then setting the type on a press.

[Anonymous]

Why do they call it filing or tap8ng when people are just using their phone to record?

[Anonymous]

*Filming. Taping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keyboarding has been used instead of typing as as a class since at least 1998. I was a sub for two days in a MS class called keyboarding. It was essentially the same as typing class when I took it in HS. Just no correction tape

Keyboarding has been around since 1986. I took that class in middle school.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised by the mixup in common idioms. I heard "it's a whole new ballpark" today (instead of ballgame) and I have an acquaintance that says "Beg, barter, or steal" instead of beg, borrow, or steal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keyboarding has been used instead of typing as as a class since at least 1998. I was a sub for two days in a MS class called keyboarding. It was essentially the same as typing class when I took it in HS. Just no correction tape

It was called Keyboarding in early to mid 90s in the New England area