Today was a rainy day at work. Its October in Jamaica, so what else is new? I sat and looked through the sliding windows at the front of the school as the uniformed students went about their business with more than the usual haste, in their (ineffectual) efforts to avoid the rain. I listened as the chattered to each other, letting the waves of youthful energy wash over me as I relaxed in a contemplative moment. Then I heard one of them ask another if he wasn't going to 'forward back', and it struck me, 'when did such an oxymoron become, not only slang, but in certain places, accepted language (which means its also spoken by adults. Whether or not this really makes it accepted language is not the point, but I consider the english spoken by adults to be the accepted form). This got me thinking about slang, its current incarnation, and just what do these changes mean for our (Jamaican) society as a whole?
To cut a long story short, the creators and main drivers of the words and word combinations that become the slang of the moment are the 'artistes', meaning the deejays. These are the Jamaican versions of rappers and rockstars (even though I think that they're mostly like rappers, they're only a few of them that can qualify as rockstars, IMO (there we go again, don't you just hate that?)), and as such, are the idols of a majority of the younger and young adult generation. They live the 'ghetto life' and then proceed to sing about it, making enough in the process to successfully leave the ghetto, that being the original intent of the many, only to turn around and then (at least in a lyrical sense, physically is another matter) never leave it, making hit after hit about the struggle, chanting down babylon (and if you don't know what that means, then you're clearly not as big on Jamaica as you'd like to believe) and fighting against the amorphous and ubiquitous man/establishment/them, whatever your word is for it.
Oh yeah, also 'bad mind'. That's a big topic as well. Read: haterz. That's the biggest topic in fact, as far as I can see...but back to what I was talking about originally...which was what again...*looks up post* ah.
So back to 'forward back'. To 'forward' means to come, or to go to. It's current incarnation, as the replacement for 'come', is because the aforementioned word sounds too much like 'cum', its phonetic twin. Due to this, it is not used by the younger generation, as the reaction to its use is usually 'my yout, wha yuh ah talk bout' cum, clean up your language, clean up your speech' (that whole 'clean up your language', or 'put some clothes on that speech' is a matter for another day entirely...!), read: 'why're you talking about cumming, now now, be more decent in your language usage' or somesuch. I don't quite remember where this originated, but it has become rooted in our daily language, to the point where I hear adults using it all the time. This distresses me on several fronts. Why, you may ask?
Hmmm.
Let's see: the rules of the english language may be contravened almost without thought by the popularity of a dj's song, hype and the force and energy of the young? A word that for years had no negative connotations WHATSOEVER until, due to its becoming associated with a sexual act and a lyrical gimmick, is now a pariah, an outcast, shunned by its regular and longtime users, once legion, now in a steadily dwindling majority? It's exile, however, only being one among many words that are now not used at all by the younger generation, all because of their drummed up sexual connotation, in a myriad of ways? Words, that with the loss of each one, is one less word that the members of this new generation will be able to use with ease and skill, much less alacrity, when the time that their (easy and comfortable) usage 'comes'.
In another instant, Bounty Killa (my dj, lemme just get that out of the way, to hell with all you Beenie Man fans... :) ), on primetime tv, declared that 'I are the one.'
Mmhmmm.
That has since become the standard use of those two words, in a lighthearted manner, to be sure (by most of its users, anyway), but without their knowledge that, with each use, they come that much closer to using that combination in the wrong setting, at the wrong time, and without thought (practice makes perfect, and all that).
Am I obsessing over something that I shouldn't be, I mean, am I making a mountain out of a few grains of dust? Sometimes I wonder......but then I think that language is also a dictator of thought, the one determines the other, around and around in an endless cycle that determines the level of our thought, and the structure of our language. Then I think, 'why is sex such a constant occupier of our thought processes', and not just sex, but sex in a crass, cheap light? Something that should never be held in a careless or 'light' light, is being bandied about as the butt of jokes, careless remarks, and is the focus of so much of the interaction amongst the younger generation in our schools and on our roads. What does THIS say for our society as a whole, and its future?
I don't quite know, but I can say that I think that it ain't good, not by a long shot. Is this the level of thought that we want to encourage amongst the future leaders and overseers of our country, the one's that will take care of us in our old age, and decide the policy and direction of our children, and their children? What will they grow up to see and do, and hear as they go about their business of living, and how will this affect them, their thoughts, feelings and opinions, and so on and so forth, ad infinitum?
Everything is generational and cultural, but it still hurts to think about it sometimes.
Wow, I started out talking about slang, and look where I ended up, eh? I wonder if I'm overreacting to this whole thing......
Hmmm.
I dunno, but I do know this. The prevalence of late, of Jamaican students and kids posting sexual acts on the net (underage kids, a lot of them) has blossomed, so much so that there have been quite a few scandals in the past few months, some involving the children of certain highly regarded, upstanding members of our society. Whilst not the only factor (not by a long shot), what I spoke about up post has had no impact on this trend (among others)?
No connection?
Think about it, and come to your own conclusions.
More as it develops.
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