Here is one of the greatest mysteries of modern times, and something for us to ponder (to be precise, for oldies like me) about the changing times. And yes, we are really talking about one generation gap. I don’t intend to sound rude but almost everyone in my generation tried hard not to misspell each word we learned from school. The only reason, that I can remember, is to upkeep our proficiency in the language. And yes, we are talking about the English language. We memorized in our heart, lung, mouth but not the brain (probably), to follow some sets of rules. Rules invented by…..I don’t know who, such as spell ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’, or Borrow means "to take," while lend means "to give." And then quite suddenly, in the same manner as Columbus would have thought he discovered India, almost everyone in the current generation maintained their mastery of the language by doing the complete opposite. How cum? 
Too late is to be written as “l8” and “88” means bye-bye? How’s it the current generation of people can communicate with each other using this bare-bones version of English while others like me struggle with it? Izit only me? You don't have to be brilliant at English language to be a Queen’s Counsel or even be another Lingam, they say. Anyone can say “it looks like me, it sounds like me, but it is not me” one, and then get paid in 10 digits! This claim is insightful, unfounded, and completely wrong. Instead people in our generation are likely to say “…..this hypothetical oversight has been the subject of recent discussion, is not shrouded in quite such impenetrable obscurity as certain previous disclosures may have led us to assume”. People who say this have no idea about the differences when confronted by such a thing as generation gap. The current generation will applaud to simplicity instead of using long sentences separate by coma, semi-colon, colon, s apostrophe, apostrophe s and period.
My niece is just one of the many who love simplicity in words and for most of the time would use something that is illegible. It is either me or her……. Blessed with almost a perfect brain, she writes in a manner that kept me baffled and ended up more bemused by my lack of comprehension on simplicity (I guess I shouldn’t be too harsh on her but sometimes the goal of provocation is not to get rid of all the pain, but to improve it). I have to admit; I couldn’t help but laugh when I was first introduced to her blog. What she wrote is unassumingly not funny but canny. So canny it was that I raced with my logical mind to laugh off from my backwardness. I needed to read 3 times, or sometimes 4, to figure out what she tried to convey. Indeed, such was the subtlety in the usage of English by our current generation. Here is one good example, her latest blog.
Last days of school, the normal behavior is feeling bitter, but am I? This is the last day of our honeymoon year. Well, at least today wasn't much of a waste, except Cik Nalini was being so aggravating. She and her NO CARDS rule. You and I know that it's not allowed, but hey, it's THE LAST DAY! Hello? Students break school rules all the time and that will not change, what can I say? It's just our nature, the real us. I mean, come on , she's just a temporary teacher. Well, she can be nice sometime, like giving us all better marks in our art. Okay, now where was I ? Oh, yeah , I just wish that I had appreciate everything that was given to me when I had the chance. Not that I did not appreciate 2 Balau, I did, but the point is it's slipping from my grasps so fast that I didn't have a good chance to hold it tight and never letting it go.
You get it? I got it after my 4th trial but still trying to understand “2 balau.” But I guess, as she honestly puts it (bless her young soul for being so humble and we love her like mad!!!) “I am not that clever, u noe. Need to double or triple my usual study time in preparing for the exam. By the time I finish the exam, I go completely blank!” “Nevermind la, what’s done’s done. I will remember what I forget, or forget to remember, or remember not to forget what I forget by next year.” It may come as a shock and total utter dismay to oldies like us, but hang on, perhaps this is the trend. So my advice to all, me included, get on with the jargon, write it down in case you are suffering from amnesia (I guess I am about to suffer…….soon) and read more so that it could come useful one day. I don’t want to sound like a complete jerk in 15 years time when she gets her Ph.D in law and is trying to impress people.
I can imagine finding myself saying something along these lines…… “I can tell you what happened 15 years ago with great detail; I just can't tell you what happened 10 minutes ago. Say, what’s your name again?” In the context of the current jargon …. “I kan tel u wat hapened 15 yrs ago with g8 dtail; I jus kant tel u wat hapened 10 min a go. Sy wats ur nam agin?” I am not going to digress; I guess u noe wat I mint.
But for the time being, I must express in the strongest possible terms my profound opposition to the newly instituted practice which imposes severe and intolerable restrictions on the ingress and egress of words and will, in all probability, should the current deplorable innovation be perpetuated, precipitate a progressive constriction of the channels of communication, culminating in a condition of organisational atrophy which will render effectively impossible the coherent and co-ordinated discharge of Her Majesty's English.
The Generation Gap
The Silent Generation: people born before 1945
The Baby Boomers: people born between 1945 and 1961
Generation X: people born between 1962 and 1976
Generation Y: people born between 1977 and ??
Why do we call the last one Generation Y?
I don’t know, but a caricaturist explains it eloquently below...
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