Peter Elbow's Writing With Power

The understanding of writing today is very different than the understanding of it in the past, it is constantly changing daily as people change due to experiences and events. Language and writing are the communication between human beings, either spoken or written. True thoughts and emotions cannot always be expressed through words and this is when the importance of writing is embraced. Peter Elbow addresses writing in his book Writing with Power, as having “magic” within each word. Slang has developed within writing and language, adapting to the current generation, this allows it to change generation to generation. Peter Elbow and Orwell’s give examples about the decline of language and the understanding of writing as a magical endeavor. Although, …show more content…
A person’s language is the way unique ideas and meaningful thoughts are put into words. However, the true thoughts and emotions comprised of a person’s brain cannot always be expressed through words and this is when the importance of writing is embraced and becomes a reality. Peter Elbow states, “The words will be ruined if they come out of the mouth instead of on paper. Speaking, uses up or dissipates one’s vital fluids for writing” and this addresses the effect and importance of writing in today’s language (Elbow 358). Language and writing have an immense power on the world because of the power writing creates within the English language. The power allows writing to convey the world and put forth a message that could not be expressed …show more content…
Orwell says that language is “ugly, inaccurate and in decline” (Orwell). Writing is supposed to be accurate, but our culture and society has made it inaccurate in the way our writing skills have diminished with our use of slang. But on the other hand, language has not declined, as language cannot decline, it changes and adapts to society. How people communicate as a generation is very different than other generations. If a teenager today said to grandparents or younger children, “This house is low-key lit”, neither of them would understand the context of the question, or the slang language used by today's generation. People in the 21st century use a lot of slang within the language, whether it is shortening words or sayings such as, “we out here” and “sup”. Slang often frowns upon by others because of the shortness and “laziness” slang words/sentences create. But is very beneficial to each generation as it allows people to feel comfortable and feel belonged within a group of people or generation. Slang is changing generation to generation adapting to the current culture. Being that it adapts and develops according to the current century, the slang used in the 21st century will have very little meaning to future generations. Slang has affected the accuracy in today's writing by the shortening of

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