Month: June 2014

Slang is a very open topic, viewed in different ways. Some people think slang is a good thing, while others, like Isabelle Kerr, believe that it is a horrific addition to the English language. Isabelle is very anti-slang, and she shows this in her article, where she dwells upon the ridiculousness of slang being added to the Oxford dictionary. Her biased article sends strong points against slang, saying how it’s “making the future of the English language look bleak”, and also that slang is mostly related to image, reputation and sex.

First of all, slang is used in many different ways, and is also related to much more than image, reputation and sex. The reason it might appear to revolve around these topics is because they are popular topics among the new generation, so slang would circulate around these topics. Whether the topics are a bad influence or not, slang is merely a medium for these topics to be spoken through. If there’s anything wrong at all, it’s not with slang, but with the topics themselves. Regardless, slang is associated with lots of topics other than those three.

Slang is not ruining the English language, but expanding it. Slang is thought to make someone seem illiterate or stupid, but this isn’t true. It shows inventiveness. A prime example of this is William Shakespeare. He created over 1700 new words, including critical, countless and many other words that might seem formal to us now. At the time he created these words, they would have been considered slang, but they are now considered as normal everyday used words, just like our modern day slang.

That is why I think slang should be given a chance. Of course, the idea of making up words sounds ridiculous, but it was been done throughout the history of the English language and it has proved to be successful, so why can’t the same outcome happen for our modern day slang? The English language is progressing for the good.

The opening was dark and large. Kevan looked at his map to confirm his findings, and they seemed correct. It wasn’t a natural crevasse that Kevan had located, it was an American intelligence base, spying on the Taliban’s operations. It was Kevan Thakrar’s job to retrieve any information about the Taliban and destroy it.

He stepped in. Around the entrance was some sort of ancient structure, suggesting that this place had been in use for quite some time. It was unusually dark in the cave and it seemed as if there was no sign of life whatsoever, but that what it’s supposed to feel like, it’s a hidden American base, after all. Kevan was entering through an unmonitored entry point, so he wouldn’t meet any resistance on the way to the base walls.

Multiple tunnels were branching off in all directions. Kevan dug into his pockets and unfolded the piece of paper holding all his instructions. He scanned through until he found the directions he required: ‘Far right’.

Kevan stepped down the correct tunnel and advanced at a quicker pace. The darkness surrounded his vision entirely now, it was pitch black. He was just walking blind now, only able to rely on touch and sound to make out his surroundings. Kevan’s footsteps remained quiet with no echos, suggesting that the tunnel was maintaining its compressed form. He also noticed that the tunnel was starting to descend; either the Americans wanted to stay absolutely hidden, or the complex was bigger than it was made out to be.

Kevan carried on following the route for several more minutes until a faint light could be made out. He started to slow down and be more wary, he was beside enemy territory now. He was in front of the door now, he examined it. It seemed very old and rusty, like one of those old war bunker doors, with a small panel for a window which was where the light was coming from.

Kevan didn’t know how many people were in the base, so his best option was to scout the base undercover. He had an image of the uniform worn in the sector of the base beside him. It was something similar to a hazmat suit. There was something poisonous about the air near Kevan’s position and according to his information, a long exposure could prove lethal, but he would soon enough be protected.

Kevan stared through the panel. The room he saw was small. It contained three desks, each holding complex computers, which stood out from the rock walls, floors and ceiling. In the left corner, Kevan spotted a miniature server, which meant that this operation was big. This meant that he couldn’t easily remove the data, so plan B would have to be put into effect. One of the computers was occupied by a person. It looked like he was the only person present in the room, which would make Kevan’s job of accessing the facility much easier. Kevan took his attention away from the room and examined the cave-like area he was present in. He looked around the floor and corners, sniffing around until he found what he hoped to find; dried up urine. It was in a corner with a heavy smell, suggesting that it was routinely used as a toilet. This gave Kevan the option of waiting for his target to make himself vulnerable,which would require patience. Kevan also spotted a large boulder across from the urine, a convenient cover for him to wait behind. Kevan leaped behind the boulder, sat back to back against it and closed his eyes, waiting for the sound of the door.

Kevan opened his eyes. He could hear footsteps gradually becoming louder and closer. The door creeked open and then closed after a few seconds. He slowly raised his eyes over the boulder to see the man in the same exact corner fiddling with his trousers. Kevan’s best option would be to choke the man to death, considering the uniform which needed to be preserved. Kevan started edging silently towards the man, who was now urinating. He equiped his fibre wire and coiled it once around each wrist so his arms could be used for a harder choke. The man finished his business and started fiddling with his trousers again. With great speed, Kevan swung the wire around the man’s neck and pulled hard. The man started squealing and panicking, swinging his arms around as the consciousness started to drain, but in his panic he swung his head backwards, colliding into Kevan’s jaw. The pain caused his grip on the wire to loosen and before he could regain it, the man sent a powerful back-heel into Kevan’s shin, making the wire loose enough to slip out of the chokehold. Kevan reached for the back of his trousers and unsheathed a combat knife. The man was stumbling towards the door, Kevan glided across the floor and plunged the knife into the man’s neck, piercing his carotid artery. The man dropped to the ground, while the blood from his neck seeped out to fill the suit, which was now ruined in terms of both camouflage and safety. Kevan would now have to infiltrate the facility with no disguise.