I love the At&t commercial where a mom is trying to tell her daughter to stop texting so much. Check it out if you have not seen it.
What I love about it the most is that it is a perfect picture of the natural evolution of language. Language adapts to its context fluidly. The same thought that can be expressed through a 200 page book, can be expressed in a scaled down form through text messages on email. People naturally adapt their message to fit the context they are trying to communicate in. Two prisoners can communicate with a series of taps on a rock, two teenagers can communicate by txt msging, pen pals write letters back and forth and then email each other to say that they are coming.
People today are natural born linguists... they have to be because everyday they make thousands of decisions about how to communicate their thoughts to the intricate web of the wide world of information. Should they call, email, text, write, visit, Im, leave a Myspace or face book message... or maybe poke, or blog, or video chat, or an online e-card, or perhaps I should make a short video about it to stick on youtube...
What is even more interested in how people try to stop the evolution of language. They get attached to the verbage they are used to and lock in... One only think of the King James Debate about the Bible to have a textbook example, but it is hardly the only example...
It is fascinating to me that In my preaching class at a well known seminary, none of these forms of communication seem worthy of mention or use in the formation of future "Pastors." Here for some reason, the books are still teaching a communication style that has not changed since the turn of the 19th century or even before. Stand behind the pulpit and talk. They do allow a little creativity... you can move from behind the lectern if you really want to wow your audience...
Why would it be taught this way you ask? ...IDK. Maybe because of nostalgia... it is a way of preserving comfort zone... or maybe because the form becomes indistinguishable from the function over time so that people truly cannot separate the two...
People wanted to communicate the truth so they preached.... therefore preaching and truth are locked together...
But what if the truth does just fine on YouTube
