White english wont andcant sit still, like literally. Language, constantly. Did you know the word clue derives from crew, the middle english word . In this area a ball of bread like these is through the labyrinth. It does not make sense. Other words have changed this way, taking on new meaning or new shades of meaning. In the age of means and texting, lol, nsw, dfw etc. , language continues to shift but as John Mcwhorter explains, that shouldnt scare us. Tonight he explains how the english language is evolving before our eyes and argues why we should embrace this change, not fight it. John mcwhorter is associate professor of english and comparative literature at columbia university. Hes the author of more than 15 books including the language book and the power of table. Hes currently writing his 20th book. Please give a warm welcome to John Mcwhorter. [applause] thanks everybody. I want to talk to you not too long about a new way of hearing language and i think its important because i
White english wont andcant sit still, like literally. Language, constantly. Did you know the word clue derives from crew, the middle english word . In this area a ball of bread like these is through the labyrinth. It does not make sense. Other words have changed this way, taking on new meaning or new shades of meaning. In the age of means and texting, lol, nsw, dfw etc. , language continues to shift but as John Mcwhorter explains, that shouldnt scare us. Tonight he explains how the english language is evolving before our eyes and argues why we should embrace this change, not fight it. John mcwhorter is associate professor of english and comparative literature at columbia university. Hes the author of more than 15 books including the language book and the power of table. Hes currently writing his 20th book. Please give a warm welcome to John Mcwhorter. [applause] thanks everybody. I want to talk to you not too long about a new way of hearing language and i think its important because i
Really in advance of direction from the u. S. A print port court. This is a case building the record for a case that might ultimately arrive at the court where the Supreme Court can decide if they only faced this question once in history, and 1976 whether the Death Penalty as a punishment is unconstitutional. This federal judge at least believe so. We are running up against time, give about 30 seconds on concluding thoughts. I think the recent decision is a prediction of the eventual future of the Death Penalty. Whether its in the short term or depending on who is on the Supreme Court the longerterm. We feel confident the Death Penalty is on its way out as an american institution. The only way that places like texas, alabama, or louisiana will fully abandon the Death Penalty is if the Supreme Court tells them to have to. We think that day is coming. Im sure john mason hopefully when Justice Breyer is still around to enjoy it. Right 90 think back in the history, you wrote about torture
In 1970s but historically very high levels of inequality. Do you agree with that . We can get into measuring nontaxable incomes or health care or pensions and Social Security which have a big impact, a bigger impact than people realized, smaller families, twocareer families and things like that. Lots of households that arent working whether they retired or other reasons, but those things do affect it. Do i think we pass through an era where innovation has been strong like it was back when we were inventing electricity and cars and industrializing the economy and i think some fortunes have been made as a result and perhaps we are not at that level but the nature of the investments have changed because you went from a capital intensive economy that required a lot of investors and savings so they had to share to an Economy Today where it says innovationeconomic and we can go on a long list. And so they can scale without really having to share their value of their innovation. Thats allowed
In 1970s but historically very high levels of inequality. Do you agree with that . We can get into measuring nontaxable incomes or health care or pensions and Social Security which have a big impact, a bigger impact than people realized, smaller families, twocareer families and things like that. Lots of households that arent working whether they retired or other reasons, but those things do affect it. Do i think we pass through an era where innovation has been strong like it was back when we were inventing electricity and cars and industrializing the economy and i think some fortunes have been made as a result and perhaps we are not at that level but the nature of the investments have changed because you went from a capital intensive economy that required a lot of investors and savings so they had to share to an Economy Today where it says innovationeconomic and we can go on a long list. And so they can scale without really having to share their value of their innovation. Thats allowed