Article Title: Know Your English

Article Summary

In this article, the author is musing over the path which has led English to its contemporary form and why it needs a course correction. The author fondly remembers the discourse of English his teachers dispensed where as a student he would be censured for any mistakes in grammar – the reason he attributes for his fluency in English. He says that today, the Queen’s English has metamorphosed into an assorted mix of hyphenated accents – each following its own colourful rules of grammar and spelling – whose users do not give two hoots for his sense of ‘propah’ English and walk all over it with impunity. Adding to his confusion is the new variant of English that shorthands the shorthanded words making it punishing for the author to read text messages. The new-fangled ‘autocorrect’ in his phone does not help either when it converts his correct words into garble, sending his confidence in English for a toss. Having no hope in sight, the author wishes no further tragedy to befall on the already downtrodden English language.