A Word On Words

A long time ago, I can't exactly say when, but people started to regularly use the word conversate, I don't know why, or how it spread, but it seems that everyone thought that was a real word and that it meant "to talk to someone." It was, at least at the time, incorrect, the correct word for such a situation is converse, but so many people said it wrong for so long, nowadays, conversate is actually recognized as a real word. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for slang terms being recognized as real words, but conversate does not fall into that category. Conversate was never slang, it was a word born from the collective ignorance of the masses, and that is not something that should be encouraged.

Other words and modern languages have very readily found their way into our everyday vernacular, but again, those are usually formed within a certain sub-culture then brought into the mainstream. Ebonics and 1337 speak are acceptable formats to me, they are recognized methods of communication that have at least to some extent, branched out to enrich, or over-complicate. Which of those things it has done is a whole different post altogether, my beef at the moment is with conversate. By allowing such a word to exist, we opened the flood gates for people to no longer be forced to know what they are say. A world where we pander to those who don't know better, because the masses ultimately win the influence. It started with conversate, but now I hear so many more words regularly that are simply wrong. During a commercial today the word funner was used and I was taken aback by it. Admittedly, funner is recognized as word, but it is still improper to say and use. Funner, like conversate, only became acceptable because nobody ever bothered to correct people. I propose that we strive to keep this from happening more and more, otherwise, with time, nothing will mean anything because everything will be acceptable.

If you want to be taken seriously, you should have to know what you are saying, and I don't feel as if enough people take such a skill into consideration. Sure, it is just words, but to a person like me, words are my weapons and my armor, so I treat them as such. I also expect others to wield these weapons with the same care as I do. I know that generally doesn't happen, but as long as the pen, or keyboard, remains mightier than the sword, people really should pay more attention.