Page 145 - The Voice of Authority

chapter 8

Is It Current?

Language is the machinery of the new age.
—Don Watson, author of Death Sentences:
How Clichés, Weasel Words and Management-
Speak Are Strangling Public Language

nstantaneous sums up today’s standard for quality
communication. Anything less seems inefficient. With
Ione-hour dry cleaning, . . . 30-minute pizza, . . . drive-
through car washes, . . . two-minute Lasik surgery, . . .
digital photos downloadable in seconds, . . . ATMs spitting
out cash faster than you can spend it, . . . instant-text mes-
saging in syllables because words take too long, . . . blog-
gers protesting air strikes before the planes return, . . . why
wait until tomorrow to find out who the new boss will be?
Speed in accessing information even suggests status.
Show me a junior high student without a cell phone, and
I’ll show you a social outcast. Teens understand that being
“in the know” dictates their social standing. If Brandi and
Brad break up at lunch, those who don’t know about it by
the end of the day aren’t in their social circle and won’t
likely be at the same parties on the weekend. It’s true. Ask
any teen you know if I’m not giving you gospel here.

Is It Current? 133

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