THE PUBLIC MIND: IS THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE NOW OBSOLETE?

To the Editor:

I just can't figure it. It appears to me that the English language as we learned it in school has become obsolete.

I remember ex~plicitly when the adjective "bad" came to mean something good. I was sitting in the back seat during an e~xcursion in a high school driver's education class. One of the students in the car, upon seeing a new General Motors product cruising Independence Street, exclaimed, "Them Chevy's is bad!" The elderly instructor responded, "Oh, I don't know. I really like them."

Take, for instance, bank advertising. Some claim that they're proud to serve Southeast Missouri. My understanding of the word "serve," which is derived from the Latin "servus," is labor bestowed by a servant or slave; in other words, not for capital gain.

Or how about the Walt Disney Corporation. Their most recent TV advertisement invites us to be their guest. Once again, I'm not sure my understanding of being a guest coincides with theirs. When I'm invited by friends to be their guest for the weekend, they don't issue me a bill for the room, board and entertainment.

Please don't misunderstand me. I don't begrudge businesses for working to make a profit. I'm all for it. That's what makes the economy click. It just seems to me that the English language is being redefined.

The zenith of this era of newspeak is the recent revelation of the presidential lexicon. No longer do we have government sp~ending. We now have inv~estment. Income ta~xes are obsolete. N~ow we have the honor of contributing to the cause.

Somehow we as the tax-paying publi~c are being held responsible for not having sufficient~ly fed the voracious appetite of the federal government. ~Why do they need 30-50~ percent of my hard-earned income to function efficiently when God Himself only required 10 percent (plus offerings) for the government of ancient Israel to remain solvent?

What really frustrates me is that I made good grades in English. Was all for naught? Maybe I need to go back to school.

Fred Poston

Cape Girardeau