|
It's enjoyable to think everyone spoke like that at the time, but I suspect their spoken language was more pedestrian (though it would be quite odd to our ears). These days it's written language that is pedestrian (especially with WFH because COVID, I write more than I speak these days, except to my cat, who can't read) - it is, as you say, spewing out words, though usually onto a screen. There is vanishingly small cost to each character typed, and erasing/editing is free, and we're all in a terrible hurry to get on to the next thing. Back then, there were no keyboards, the physical act of writing took time, and the materials had cost. There was more need to think about the words before writing them down. If you were halfway down the page of a neatly worded letter, you'd consider your next words more carefully before writing them down, because changing your mind after scribbling something down was messy and time-consuming - try to erase the ink, or scratch something out, or recopy it all onto a new sheet. These days, though, I find myself spewing nearly stream of consciousness, then tweaking for a bit before sending, even on a short missive. I keep going back, for instance, to an English teacher who drilled into me to reconsider every it/they/he/she to see if it read better (more clearly) that way, or with repeating the name. Lots of little editing bits like that. But I do love the sound of a well-turned phrase. |