Hear ye! Hear ye!

I could've gone my whole life without knowing some things I do happen to know by accident. Like who fucked who at what time, who screwed (two possibilities here) who - where and when, who had a secret of some kind that noone knew about etc etc etc

What baffles me, is how people find me to be as a good listener. I hardly ever listen to a person very thoroughly - unless I like the person very much, of course. I usually have nothing to say to these people, nor can I sympathise with them (an obscure idea in itself, I know).

But all of that is just a little filler to move on to the next bit. Whenever talking to fellow humans . . . we talk in Estonian. I have some friends to talk to in English, as well . . . Now, I'm no linguist, but . . . I must agree with John Humphries - there is too much idiotic language around. We all know what the person tries to say even though they strangle and massacre the language which they are using. "From empty cliche to meaningless jargon, dangling participle to sentences without verbs, the English language is reeling. It is under attack from all sides. Politicians dupe us with deliberately evasive language. Bosses worry about impacting the bottom line while they think out of the box. Academics talk obscure mumbo jumbo. Journalists and broadcasters, who should know better, lazily collaborate. John Humphrys wittily and powerfully exposes the depths to which our beautiful language has sunk and offers many examples of the most common atrocities. He also dispenses some sensible guidance on how to use simple, clear and honest language. Above all, he shows us how to be on the alert for the widespread abuse - especially by politicians - and the power of the English language."

It applies to every language spoken. Now, I know that I'm no master of language - I use dumb phrases and repetitions and my spelling and grammar are at best woeful. I decided against trying to post a "reader's letter" to Postimees or any other online newspaper long ago. It's not like I have nothing to say, rather than I know noone wants to read my views or even publish them - I do not represent the public view. But when I do, when I do publish anything - even on this blog, I try my best to make it easily readable, understandable, and correct in any way - at least I try. When I mispronounce a word, I usually notice it. The same with mistyping - I try my best . . .

I only wish it applied to everyone - but it doesn't. How is it possible, I don't understand, to murder a language and not even think about the consequences? When I use bad and broken language at home - it's ok, as long as my kids never hear it. It is always acceptable, if you are the only one suffering from the bad language you use. But when others are affected by it - well, I just think that't wrong. I know there's no stopping the downfall - most of teachers are not capable of pouring wisdom into childrens' heads and that's how it's supposed to be. Kids should want to learn - but they don't - rather, they'd like to learn a language from a computer-game or a video-game or a cartoon or on the backs of Yu-Gi-Oh playing cards. So they learn all the angry expressions like "slay, defeat, murder, monster, hideous, deranged" and so on and so forth. And respect for teachers has undergone a major degression . . . It is exponentially harder to please kids as a teacher, especially when you are only 6-7 years older than your pupils (as most young, bright, talented, fresh-out-of-school teachers are). No respect whatsoever. And it gets worse with the school's level - in higher-rated schools the problem is there, but not that severe. Although, in schools with lower ratings, things are out of hand and there's no cure. The result is this - poor students create poor teachers, poor teachers mean poor teachings and poor teachings lead way to even poorer students. Unless there's a very direct, swift and accurate change in country's educational system, we'll be on a neverending escalator towards lowest achievements imaginible.

I can see you all now - closing your browser windows in outrage - that blog makes no sense - and I quite agree. All I can say, is that I am a very angry little man who feasts on other's happiness and misfortunes. I sometimes do stoop to the level on online commentators and I despise myself for that. But that's just who I am.