Summon the Ancients-Society's Decay

I walk amongst the scum of the earth
Back stabbing liars and hypocrites
I refuse to settle this
Last time I try to do this
I am enslaved
With all of them 

Fake politicians guide us 
They determine the disease 
I will terminate this
 I will not ties
Bringing these eyes upon mankind 

Fix this race 
Tell these lies
This is not the same
society is wasting
 I will watch society decay

This is not the way it should be
everyone just is a two faced thief
I've watched this so many times
This will all crumble before us
Bitter hearts will beat the same in this hell
This all could be avoided
I'll see your face in hell

Today, someone correcting my essay asked me if "gesticulation" was a real word.  I was flabbergasted.  That was my favorite word in middle school, maybe even in 6th grade!  And a high school senior was asking me if it even existed.  It would have been okay if he didn't know what it meant, but the fact that it wasn't even familiar to him shocked me.

People have been praising the new revised version of the SAT because now that students don't have to study "weird" words, they can put more effort into the other sections and have less stress.  But even though you might not use those words in regular conversations, the fact that you have an expanded vocabulary might come in handy in college or writing formal letters.  Now that people don't have to study "weird" words (oh come on, words such as "spew" and "spur" are considered SAT words.  Everyone should know them by the time they have to take the test), there might be a general decline in the quality of writing people can expect.

Now, I'm not saying that my vocabulary is amazing or anything ( in fact, that was my weakest section of all).  I'm merely saying that if society starts to undermine the importance of a strong vocabulary, we might as well use Newspeak.  In fact, in the book 1984 by George Orwell, it states that "the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought", and that "in the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it".  You learn to associate certain words with your experiences, but without those words, the value of those experiences disappear.  Without the means of expressing your reactions, the stimuli is rendered obsolete.


This is part of a song called I Ain't Got (A Good Enough Vocabulary): http://www.songsforteaching.com/fillyourhead/iaintgot.htm

Part of the lyrics are below:

She's so loquacious, tenacious, sagacious-but not too spacious
She's inscrutable, beautiful-it's irrefutable.
Never meek with us, obseqious, salutary when she speaks with us.
Munificent, beneficent, yeah she's magnificent

But she won't go out with me-because
I ain't got a good enough vocabulary
No-no-no she ain't got time for me-because
I ain't got a good enough vocabulary