The Improper Monster

By: Kimberly Parker

“I told you, I don’t got your eyeliner!” my sister screamed.

“You don’t HAVE my eyeliner?” I yelled back, making sure I emphasized the have because it really gets under my skin when my sister uses improper language.

“Nah, I don’t got it. That’s your fault, keep track of your stuff, it ain’t my fault you always loosin’ your stuff.”

Just hearing that sentence coming from her mouth made me cringe, improper language is my number one pet peeve. My sister and I were raised to always use proper English. Both of our parents talk virtually flawless all of the time. Growing up, if we said one word out of line, we were immediately corrected. My mother especially held zero tolerance for improper language. If we walked past someone who was talking improperly, a disgusted look would come across my mother’s face and she would warn my sister and I to never use that kind of language, she would say, “You will sound like an idiot if you talk like you are dumb.” I was brought up to believe that improper language is any word that is slang, shortened or when poor grammar is used.

To my mother, if you don’t talk as perfectly as she did then you are either uneducated or just stupid. It doesn’t occur to her why people use different ways to talk the English language. People speak ‘loose English’ because it is a part of their culture and everyday life, they especially use this ‘improper language’ around people they are especially close to.

In fact, improper language is very popular considering it is constantly being used in some of the music we listen to. In the rap and hip hop industry, the lyrics to songs are heavily flawed with grammatical errors. This music uses all kinds of slang and curse words and yet people are getting paid to produce it. Rap and Hip Hop music is in high demands, especially for the younger generations. What these rappers and singers are not thinking about are the children that they are influencing with their lyrics. This kind of music does have a huge influence on people, especially younger kids like my sister. They think it is cool and hip to use the type of language that there favorite singers are using. These kids see these performers as role models and use their language. Ever since my sister has been hanging around a new group friends and listening to rap music, her language has defiantly been effected in a negative way. This just shows how easily children’s language can be influenced. This drives my mother crazy, at first she constantly tried to correct my sister and remind her that she goes to a good school that taught her how to speak the correct way. My mother was implying that my sister was being a fool for using improper language because my sister is in fact educated. This leads to another conclusion that my mother is drawing which is that people who use improper language are not educated, which is not true. I personally cannot stand when people use improper English intentionally but I do think it is also unfair to label people and jump to conclusions. You cannot just assume because a person talks improperly that they are stupid and or uneducated.

Sometimes when my sister uses this improper English, I tease her saying that nobody is going to hire her for a job if she still talks the way she does today. She always just gives me a sour look telling me how dare I think that. I am only trying to help her by informing her that in reality, improper English is not desired in the working industry. If she did go in for a job interview and used improper language, chances are she would not be hired. Jobs are a formal matter, appearance is key and if you speak improperly, it is going to be noticed and frowned upon. Improper language is very unprofessional and in the business world it is never used. It is looked at as being low class and everyone in the business industry wants to be on top. Nobody wants to appear as being low class and that is why the vast majority of the people in this industry have close to flawless English speaking skills.

My sister has been using improper language for two years now and does not see the significance of using ‘proper English.’ Other people as well do not see why speaking properly can be beneficial. Clarence Darrow who was an American lawyer in the 1920’s said, “Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to speak it to?” This quote is questioning if speaking correctly is really worth learning. I respectfully disagree with this quote because in this day and age, you can speak correct language to your boss and coworkers who do not want to hear any kind of improper language. By reading this quote, proper English must not have been too important to Clarence and being a lawyer, I don’t see why he would that speaking proper is a waste of time. Being a lawyer, speaking properly is a big part of the job because speaking is in fact your job and the use of proper English is critical. 

The way that English is used is up to the person who speaks it. There are countless variations on how the English language is used and there are many ways to use the language properly and improperly.  This all depends on the person, the person’s history, and surroundings. The way that you use English effects how other people think of you and can often be stereotypical. The use of different variations on the English language can affect your life in both negative and positive ways. What my sister doesn’t realize that she is developing a bad habit that might affect her life down the road in the working industry. If she doesn’t start practicing proper English now, she might always be an improper monster.