Everyone, no matter how educated or gifted in his or her use of the English language will at times reach for a word and grab the wrong one. One place these random, disconnected sentences always end up is the internet. From bloggers and journalists to independent writers and business leaders, the internet sensation has gone from strength to strength allowing people from every corner of the globe to communicate their message to the masses, no matter how personal or public. I guess I’m the perfect example of this!
The internet has essentially changed how we make conversation with our friends, family and work associates. Regulator Ofcom suggests that the average Briton spends almost half their waking life using the internet. And who can blame them with websites like Facebook, Myspace, Skype, Viber, and Google Plus all readily available to allow us to update our everyday movements through a virtual universe of comments, posts, blogs, videos and photographs.
No surprise then that languages around the world continue to constantly evolve. In fact, I recently read an article about how the internet has become cluttered with the use of mangled English with Spanish, known as Spanglish! This new Spanish slang has been created by Latin Americans and Spaniards who according to a recent study, are using more English terms on the World Wide Web but often in an incorrect way, making conversation sound a bit muddled…if not funny at times.
Some of the most common examples of online Spanglish include ‘footing’ ‘puenting’, ‘pendrive’ and ‘manager’. A study carried out by two independent organisations revealed that there are 12 typical Spanglish words that are creeping in to the Spanish language and it’s all down to the internet. Here are some of the words listed below:
- Averaje – Average
- Boila – Boiler
- Carpeta – Carpet
- Chopin – Shopping centre
- Deiof – Day off
- Frizer – Refrigerator
- Grocear – Groceries
- Jonron – Home run
- Lonche – Midday meal
- Marqueta – Supermarket
- Pari – Party
- Ruki – Novice
Although some Spanish speakers may have it slightly wrong, I think it is only fair to say that the English language has developed from the once widely spoken ‘Queen’s English’ or ‘Received Pronunciation’. Nobody really speaks English in its purest form anymore so how it is spoken by millions of people, across the world, even in this informal way, should not be judged or seen as second best!
