What Happened to the English Language?

Do you remember when people used the word "invitation" instead of "invite"? How about using a dictionary? I often see the possessive used incorrectly - we are allowed to wear "jean's" on occasion and I can't help but wonder what my jeans possess. It appears to me that when in doubt as to whether the apostrophe is needed or not, it is simply thrown into the word. It's especially disturbing when a word that can't possibly be possessive is employed. I've seen "your's" and "our's" and any number of words that are incapable of possession.

Somewhere along the line, our reverence (or at least respect) for the English language has gone away and I sadly mourn its departure. My exposure to high school and college students is somewhat reduced since my own offspring have graduated or gone on to other endeavors. But I can't help but notice that there are thousands of websites advertising ghost writers, some of which is certainly associated with the challenges of our language.

An unfortunate example of this erosion concerns the word "like." Talk to virtually anyone under the age of 20 and virtually every sentence has the word in it. "So he's like..." "And I was like..." As a student/lover of the language, every time I hear this aberration, I want to ask who likes what. Or in my worst moments, I want to ask: "This is a metaphor, e.g. 'her smile is like a summer's day.'"

Unfortunately, this is a pervasive if not wholly disconcerting habit. What amuses me is that I can always tell what adults have teenage or pre-teen children because their language emulates it, no matter what the context. It's almost as if we've injected all of our youth with a "like" virus and only arriving at a certain age can overcome the virus.

As a writer, I am consistently amazed at the misuse or misunderstanding of the most basic words in our language. I have written numerous letters for those who clutch when their fingers hit the keyboard, many of whom possess advanced degrees. Have we de-emphasized language studies in deference to computer technology? Regrettably, text messaging, emailing and frequent sloppiness on websites all contribute to the problem.

I may be a dinosaur with respect to distinguishing between "who" and "whom." And I will continue to refuse to end a sentence with a preposition. I suspect that many who read this are saying, "who cares." I can only hope that at least a portion of the following generations will seize the opportunity to salvage a vehicle that is rich and very definitely worth preserving.