The English language is a living thing. Like a teenager loving then hating different
singers and bands, it changes all the time, sometimes helpfully and sometimes
not. One of the biggest influences
(apart from creeping Americanise, which I personally loathe) is computers.
Save
Are you saved? As
Christians we all hope so. But, as well
as our souls, we have been taught to save our work – or face dire consequences,
of losing it. We started off saving on
to floppy discs and the symbol on Microsoft Word still shows a floppy disc and
then we moved on to memory sticks and cloud…
Cloud
No, it’s not just a white fluffy thing in the sky. (Hold on the word ‘sky’ for a minute.) To make sure that your work is properly
saved, you might upload into the cloud… Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive… or OneDrive. OneDrive used to be called 'Skydrive' until
Microsoft realised there was a British television company called ‘Sky’,
so they changed the name.
Ship
If the goods you ordered were ‘shipped’, you used to think
of packages being transported from afar by sea - on a ‘ship’?
Oh no. If you order anything
online, even from down the road, it will be ‘shipped’, and it’s much more
complicated than loading it on to a boat.
Taken it to the depot… despatched… loaded on to the courier’s van… You
will be able to see it all on your phone.
Then it will be delivered to the house three doors away. You will have proof of this: a photo of your package and your neighbour’s
feet.
Charger
This is not my funny, but it’s good. It appeared on the Facebook page, ‘Church Music
Sheet Typos’, (which I thoroughly recommend to all Christian Facebook users
with a sense of humour).
Online
Now I need to put my washing online.
Rosemary Johnson has had many short
stories published, in print and online, amongst other places, Cafe Lit,
Scribble, Friday Flash Fiction, The Copperfield Review, Fiction on the Web and
Paragraph Planet. She has also
contributed to Together magazine and Christian Writer. Her historical novel, Wodka or Tea with
Milk, which is set during the Solidarity years in Poland, is… deep breath…
due to be published soon. In real life,
she is a retired IT lecturer, living in Suffolk with her husband.
This made me giggle or is that Google? Also with the increased use of emojis, word are being used less and less.
ReplyDeleteYes, new meanings all the time! It's fun looking at how language changes - I wonder if the rate of change has 'ramped up' since computers and 'globalisation' of societies? My contribution to the same subject can be found on my website, https://www.marihowardauthorandpainter.co.uk/blog
ReplyDeleteLoved this, very funny and apposite. Covet not thy neighbour's dongle...
ReplyDeleteLovely post, Rosemary! Thank you. Not Only does it keep changing but it adopts many words from other nations. When you play scrabble, you will be amazed at the variety of words accepted as standard English , such as ' Next tomorrow'! Blessings.
ReplyDeleteNext tomorrow, indeed, Sophia? I don’t know that one.
ReplyDeleteGosh, yes, technology must be behind so much language change and shift. I used to challenge my English classes to come up with 20 words I wouldn't have used, or would have used differently, in my own childhood. Mouse. Browsing. Grooming. Internet. Mobile phone. They had no trouble coming up with the 20.
ReplyDeleteYes, all of those, Fran. I could have written a much longer list.
ReplyDelete