Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

Inheriting Land and Language
Societies readily adopt the language of a dominant
cultural phenomenon. The language of the computer, for
instance, is an incredible part of late twenty-first-
century society. We "interface" with colleagues, and
sometimes we feel ourselves "maxed out" at our jobs,
needing "downtime" to "reboot our systems." Words
originally coined and meant for computers are plucked for
use in our personal lives, signaling a cultural
acceptance of a new language for doing business and
living, while for many, achieving mastery of the language
becomes a means for success. We change meanings and
usages sometimes, and, in the process, we confound the
message and hamper effective communication. Our twenty-
first-century use of "programming" is an excellent
example. Once a term used to describe television
scheduling, it now means the ability to create the
schedule, as well as the shows. We program everything,
including our days and emotions in order to master them
and subsequently master others. In the process, we have
come to understand that television shows can "program"
our children with violence or "program" us to believe
certain views to be politically true and correct. The