Language in the 21st century

I was brought up to always say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. No-one says it any more. It’s not because they aren’t polite. It’s because they are too polite. No-one says ‘yes’ or ‘no’ either. The new lexicon of 21st century etiquette goes something like this: You’re a star = thank you (said to someone you know) Lovely = thank you (said to someone you don’t know) Absolutely = yes. Saying ‘no’? ... not answering an email, generally.

Language and the generation gap

My sister’s children have forbidden her to say ‘whatev’. On the grounds that she’s over 25. (Quite a lot over 25, actually.) How things have changed. My mother never wanted to take over our slang. She just laughed at us when we called everything ‘far out’. At the time, she was still describing everything as ‘with it’. ...

‘You were cool once, mum,’ says my niece kindly. ‘In the 70s.’