This friday in the Times of India there was a debate on the pros and cons of sms language (point and counterpoint). Personally I don’t use sms language and prefer using the correct spellings (the old fogey in me and when it creeps into answer papers I put a query mark on it) but I do appreciate the ingenuity of the younger generation. I believe a language should convey a message and purists of the language may moan but nothing is constant but change. The more flexible a language the more user friendly. English  has incorporated words from almost every language in the world that in part may be the reason for its popularity. Some months ago the Central Government have  issued a notification that the Babus are now allowed to use English words in official Hindi documents. Earlier they had to find a Hindi equivalent or coin one. This in the 70s reached ridiculous proportions and subject to jokes, for example, what is the Hindi equivalent of railway signal? Answer ‘Agni rath aagaman naagaman tamra suchika taamb patika’. Quite a mouthful and by the time you say it you have missed your train plus the agni raths are on longer in use. Signal is a word almost everyone understands and it does not make sense in reinventing the wheel. The French are also famous for this purist approach and in France it is illegal by law to have a foreign word in French hoardings or public notices. So an ad for chewing gum cannot use the word ‘chewing gum’ though every French knows it by that name. This maybe in part maybe the reason for the decline of the use of the French language in the Continent. In the earlier part of the 1900s it was considered the ‘lingua franca’ or the ‘bridge language’ in Europe. Today the usage of French is confined to France and its ex colonies. In India even in the old French colony of Pondycherry the use of French is very limited.  English has undergone metamorphosis from ‘go ye forth and do likewise’ to ‘go and do the same’. During my childhood I my memories are of reading Enid Blyton books I doubt anyone of the present generation has heard about her. The books were in a very British English with very quaint terms like ‘I shall be very cross’ (I will be angry) or ‘Blow! Blow!’ (Damn! or Shit!). You had dolls which were called ‘Gollywogs’ which is now considered a racist word because the doll was black with curly hair. A word like gay has different connotation from the 70s when it meant ‘light hearted or care free’. I remember getting a questionnaire with a question, do you enjoy gay parties? Who would word a question that way now. So finally variety is the spice of life. You can live without spices but it makes life very bland. So go ahead express yourself in whatever way you are comfortable.