das wiked. buh yo! u wanna get tada nxt levl? wateva.

March 10, 2007 at 1:19 am

Now, I know what I said, and I meant every word of it. But then, I got this comment to a post,

“das wiked. som kid in ma clas did dat. evry1 freaked, even da teacha!it waz jokes, yo.lol. Buh… she went 2 ur web, got da secret n printed it n gave it 2 us 2day! Da fun onli lasted 4 2 days, nofair, yo! N it dusnt wrk onma computa. Wat a rip off , man.”

and I started thinking . . .

Because that post is so popular with the younger crowd, I get quite a few comments like this. Most of them are only a few words and don’t really add anything so I delete them.

Think about that for a second.

Somebody takes the time to enter a comment, and what do I do? I delete it. Whatever time and effort was spent was completely wasted. I don’t believe what was said/written was worth anything. The language causes me to make a judgment; my credibility filters go up, and I do something even worse than ignore the message. I delete it entirely so nobody else ever gets a chance to read it.

Think about that for a second.

So, having said what I said here, now I should also say this: The language you use has the power to (as The Shadow puts it) cloud men’s minds. It can make you look like a genius, or it can make you look dumb. It can make you shine in a glorious starburst of light, or it can make you invisible.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Why should you care what other people think? Parents and teachers are always telling you not to care so much about what other people think. Right? You know you’re not dumb. Your friends know you’re not dumb. I know you’re not dumb. So what gives?

Maybe nothing. But sometimes, maybe something. Sometimes it’s good for people to know how smart, how cool, how utterly unique and special you really are. And it’s good to shine a little light on that.

Like it or not, fair or not, the language you use creates in others just as much of an impression as your clothes, your hair, your body odor, your breath, that bit of salad in your teeth, or that booger you didn’t know was hanging out of your nose .

Sorry. But it does.

And here’s what most people don’t understand about the whole thing (neither kids nor hoity-toity adults):

It Totally Depends On Your Audience.

You’re not going to wear a suit to simply chum around with your pals. Why not? Because it won’t be comfortable. You won’t as easily be able to catch some phat flying squirrel air.

So here’s the secret: It all depends on you. What do you want?

Want to hang out at the skate park? You’d better learn the dialect. Want to get a good paying job, maybe buy a house and have a little freedom someday? You’d better learn the dialect.

You know. It’s the whole “when in Rome” thing.

The dialect your teachers are trying to teach you (like it or not) is simply the dialect of money and power in today’s society. Simply put: the people that can communicate fluently in this dialect have access to the vault.

That’s right.

You want all the things money and power can buy? The dialect (the language) is the key to the first door.

Are there other keys and other doors? Yes. But if you don’t get past the first one, you can’t get to the next. It depends on what you want. Just like in a video game. Want to get to the next level in the game? Well first you need the right tools/weapons/battery packs/knowledge/skill.

The written dialect your teachers are pushing is one of those tools/weapons/battery packs/bits of knowledge/skills.

But remember, it’s really just all about what you want. Some people are happy playing the game at one level forever. But I’ll guarantee you this—after awhile, it gets a little boring.

So, ready to pick up a couple of those tools? Maybe a key or two? It’s just around the corner.

If you’re adventurous enough, that is.

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