By Kevin Parker
Round Table executive editor

The English language, as it is, may be dying. For proof, look further than Urban Dictionary, a website dedicated to defining slang expressions. The first few lines on the site tell the story: “Urban Dictionary is the slang you wrote. Define your world.” According to Urban Dictionary, 4,295,131 definitions have been submitted since 1999. Words such as dank, shwag, and n00b have assaulted high school hallways and shoved proper grammar to the side.

Dank – An expression frequently used for something of high quality.

Shwag – An expression used for something of low quality; something looked down upon.

Dank technically means “unpleasantly moist or wet.” In certain circles, dank has taken a very different meaning. To the pot-smoking community, dank is used to describe highly potent marijuana. Shwag is the opposite, describing weak and impotent marijuana.

Pop culture has glorified drug use; movies and music make illegal drug use seem enviable. Impressionable youths see only the “positive” effects of illicit drug use, never the consequences. Characters in movies like “Knocked Up” or “Pineapple Express” are envied by so many that the language they use has become synonymous with “being in the know.” How can a word with such a negative connotation can be spun in such a relatively positive manner and become a cultural mainstay? It’s impossible to understand.

N00b – 1) A person who is new to a video game. 2) A person who, regardless of experience, lacks the skill or competence to be competitive in a certain video game. 3) Someone who tends to whine or complain when being beaten at a video game – often done by accusing more skilled opponents of hacking. 4) A person who “talks trash,” claiming to be elite at a video game, only to be beaten down by a better player. The player may turn down any games when challenged by better players.

The word n00b – if one can call n00b a word – is most often heard in online gaming communities, though it is more widely used. A person may be labeled a n00b for just about anything in everyday life. Internet gaming is a world of its own, using a language all its own. PWN (to dominate an opponent), W00T (standing for “we owned other team”), and n00b are a staple of any internet gamer’s vocabulary; it typically extends no further.

Gaming requires immense concentration, enough to allow proper grammar and precise diction to fall by the wayside. In certain situations, short words or phrases that hold the significance of a larger sentence are needed.

But should those words be accepted outside of the gaming community? It is understandable that when a person plays a game, that person must concentrate, not think of how to formulate a grammatically acceptable sentence. But once the game is off, the headset removed, grammar must assume its natural priority: top of the list.

The blame for the disintegration of the English language lies mostly upon pop culture, as it condones activities and lifestyles conducive to horrible grammar and words that do not exist.

The rest of the blame is on the youth of America, for it should ultimately be the youth that realizes the ramifications of using such poor diction.

Teachers do not accept dank, shwag, n00b, PWN, W00T, or any variation of such. Colleges do not accept dank, shwag, n00b, PWN, W00T, or any variation of such. Employers do not accept dank, shwag, n00b, PWN, W00T, or any variation of such. The youth of America should not accept dank, shwag, n00b, PWN, W00T, or any variation of such.