I know, cool story. Sure, I’ll still correct my mother when she says, “every since” instead of, “ever since,” but I won’t go out of my way to tell people on Facebook that “aye” is pronounced like “eye” and that it is old English for yes. By the way, still trying to bring back the word “aye” so if you could start slipping that in to conversations, that’d be much appreciated. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether or not you’re a prescriptivist or descriptivist; change in literacy is going to happen. In fifty years, being literate will be a lot different than it is today Literacy is ever changing, and that’s probably for the best. When’s the last time a math teacher ran in to class shouting about some new unconventional math formula? The answer is never. In English, that can happen with unconventional words and phrases that can spark comprehensive discussion. Let’s explore that a bit …show more content…
Literacy of the masses can lead to great things, like overthrowing the rule of a kingdom that is overtaxing people for tea, but unfortunately, we haven’t quite made it back there yet. Some people still don’t know who Edward Snowden is, or what he did. That is an important issue, and a few years later, people still are clueless about it. Illiteracy of one can lead to some laughs, and some failed careers. Illiteracy of the masses can build the bridge to presidency for a guy who says he has the “best” words. Yes, we just got slightly political, but we’ll stay away from there for now. The slightly elongated point being made here is that literacy is a crazy idea, and the fact that we, as a society, can be made or broken by our collective literacy is absolutely boggling. The fact that we can feel good about being literate or even illiterate is absolutely beautiful. It makes me happier than anyone could ever imagine, or maybe if they were literate enough they could explain to me why my thought here is only at the bottom of the metaphorical staircase that is thought, and literature. They would tell me that it would take me a billion years to figure out how happy it makes them, and someone else would tell them the same and it would be true. That is what makes literacy both important and unimportant. Is the man at the top of the ladder better than me? No. I am better than the person below me on the ladder? No. The only advantage