Are they unwell-educated?

Question

I realized that some people, especially students, try to use "F" words in their conversation. Are they unwell-educated? Do we need to use slangs in our conversation? How to keep our language proper and fresh?

Answer 1

I use that word... its just slang. If you don't like it, and MANY people don't, don't use it. I get annoyed with it when people over use it myself, even tho I say that word. Our language has come a long was, the english language I mean. I think its getting too much into slang... to the point where you have to tell someone SPEAK ENGLISH!! lol... but it isn't anything that you are gonna be able to stop.

Answer 2

Well, I object to your use of "unwell-educated." What an awful construction! The word is "uneducated" or "ignorant." I realize that you're trying to avoid using a pejorative term, but that doesn't give you the right to coin terrible phrases. I'm all for the coining of new phrases, but only if they're good ones.

To answer your question, the F word is hardly slang--it's documented in one form or another for over a thousand years--it goes back to the Anglo-Saxon, at least. I'm of the opinion that language is occasion based: some forms of speech are more appropriate for certain circumstances than others. An educated person merely knows when to use which mode of speech. And language is always evolving: today's slang often tomorrow's everyday speech.

Answer 3

Well, you're certainly making a brave effort of adding freshness to the language! You've used two forms I've never encountered before (unwell as a modifier for an object other than a life-form, and slang in the plural with an 's') in your question. I'm sure many of those students who use 'the F word' in their conversation will continue to modify the words around it and eventually discard 'the F word' all-together as being old fashioned or juvenile. Give it time.

Answer 4

You can help start by using proper grammar yourself when you ask how well people are educated. "Unwell-educated" isn't a proper word or phrase. Educated unwell, would work better if it weren't for the fact that several other phrases would emphasize your point more smoothly... educated poorly, not very well educated, ect.

As for using the F word in conversation, its more likely than not a means to fit in. It will fade in time, provided the child is around people who don't use vulgar language frequently (help me out parents).

Also we don't need to use slang, and a good way to help that is to not use it yourself, even if the person you are speaking with does.

Answer 5

Sometimes there is no substitute for the power behind the "F" word. Unfortunately, many people take that word for granted.

Is saddens me that in your argument for proper English usage you use such poor grammar.

There is no such word as "unwell-educated." The word or phrase you seek is either "uneducated" or "not well-educated."

The plural of "slang" is "slang," not "slangs," unless you are discussing the various slangs of different languages or dialects. You can say "slang terms" or "slang words" or even, my favorite, "colloquialisms."

"How to keep our language proper and fresh?" is not a complete sentence.

Please do not criticize other people's English usage when yours is less than exemplary.

Answer 6

Actually, the "F" word is profanity. "Slang" means something different than "profanity".

Some people who use profanity are educated but crude. Some use it selectively. Kids tend to go wild with it. The use of profanity makes someone sound uneducated, but it doesn't necessarily mean they are.

The language is made fresh every time it gets updated to reflect current usage. Keeping it proper would probably require some kind of laws that outlawed the use of profanity in public. Depending on where you hang out, there are still social settings in which loud use of profanity is not acceptable.

Answer 7

With every generation the language changes...otherwise we would still be speaking Old English or Latin. I just read the other day that the hyphen is a dying thing in words...because it doesn't look as crisp and clean in typing (I believe it is because people don't know where it is on the keyboard ;)...or just don't know how to use it period. Speaking properly seems to be a dying art. Language skills are taught in the schools but once the kids get on the street amongst their friends everything seems to flow out of their ears and strange things start to come out of their mouths. I've always told my kids that right or wrong people judge you by the way you speak...you might have an IQ of 300 but the first "ain't" that comes out of your mouth will drop your IQ to about 90 in the eyes of many people....especially prospective employers.

Answer 8

I think one way of keeping our language 'proper and fresh' would be to use proper words rather than making them up. Off the top of my head for example would be 'unwell-educated'!

It sounds to me like you may well be one of the poorly educated people you mention in your question, so perhaps you should look inwards and start there first.

Answer 9

Language is always evolving. I don't know that we can keep it proper and fresh. I do believe it is a sign of immaturity and lack of imagination when people continually use swear words in conversation, particularly when not speaking to other students. Context is important. It's OK to use slang and swear words amongst one's peers if that's accepted, but should not be done in more formal situations, in employment situations, in public, with one's elders. Frequently students think they are rebelling by using slang and swear words, but are conforming in opposition to perceived restrictions.

Answer 10

Youngsters often try to use profanity as it seems to be a way of establishing independence and adulthood.

Slang is in some ways just a part of the evolution of language and many of our accepted phrases and words were slang at one time.