Is the Internet Dumbing Us Down?
To the Editor: While it is true that the Internet has spawned a language of its own (Arts & Ideas pages, Feb. 20), I am distressed by the hyperbole of this debate. The ”deliberate pace of language evolution” has not accelerated, and contrary to Sven Birkerts’s belief, instantaneousness does not lead to ”the impoverishment of language.” Certain types of words have always come and gone quickly in a language. Words like cool, spiffy, groovy, excellent, phat and def have fallen in and out of favor. No tool led to their appearance or disappearance; they were merely an outgrowth of prevailing tastes and fashions. The use of pls for ”please” and LOL for ”laughing out loud” should be of no more concern than the use of abbreviations like SWF in newspaper personals. MILTON A. TURNER Cleveland, Feb.
