Communication Breakdown

I generally disagree with people who claim that this or that is contributing to the downfall of the English language. Part of what's so great about English is that it is incredibly flexible. The variety of words and expressions allows you to be more precise or at least poetic in your descriptions. Words and phrases we use more often will get shortened so that we can communicate the concept more quickly and move on. That's why "television" gets shortened to "tellie" or "tv" and "personal computer" becomes just "computer" or "P.C.". Or, if you're dealing with a certain type of computer, you refer only to their adjectives ("laptop" or "desktop"). So long as the idea gets across, the language is doing its job of communicating information. Which is why I actually agree with this. Corporate jargon does the opposite of what the natural progression of language accomplishes. Rather than making communication faster and/or more precise, it takes much longer to communicate and, once the words have been said, their meaning tends to be vague. Phrases like "person of interest" could mean a variety of things even within the context of police investigations. Some things make even less sense when taken out of context. Is a "conveyor of knowledge" a teacher, a mentor, a book, or an educational program? These words have come into existance for a reason. Why are they so readily discarded for longer, less clear expressions?

Maybe there will be a backlash soon where using "big words" actually makes you sound stupid and using "small words" demonstrates an expanded vocabulary.