Cykl artykułów został przygotowany przez Lang LTC - platynowe centrum egzaminacyjne Cambridge English, organizatora językowych wyjazdów zagranicznych oraz szkoleń językowych dla firm i klientów indywidualnych.

Language - Uses and Abuses

Użycia i nadużycia językowe

Language is the most versatile of tools, far exceeding the uses for which it was first designed. The first humans probably talked about best places to hunt, what to eat, how to survive but since then the language has evolved significantly into something more complex. Nowadays, our language does not only convey messages which allow us to survive in this wild world but it also has the power of being dangerous, shocking, playful, witty. In the old days if you did not like someone you just hit them on the head with your mace, nowadays we have to restrain ourselves because for physical abuse you could land in prison. Fortunately, however, we have our language which allows us to express our anger verbally rather than physically. We can hide behind the language of doublespeak to conceal truths, we use euphemisms when we want to be diplomatic, we create secret codes for protection or uniqueness. Like all complex tools, language can go wrong, and when it does go wrong we can have a closer look and observe how it actually works.