Monday, September 20, 2010

'I'm good'?

As is my wont, I have been wondering about which way the English language is going. Just about every moron thinks 'anyways' is a vast improvement on 'anyway', and the moment they go to college they are taught that in order to sound cool and with it you have to write 'I'll revert to you' instead of 'I'll reply to you', or even 'I'll get back to you' (if only they knew what a dictionary was, and could summon up the energy to check what 'revert' really means!). And that it's OK and cool to sign off with just 'Best' (best what? Will their fingers drop off if they write 'With best wishes'? ... mine haven't yet). 

Recently I felt like throwing up when someone said in an email 'I hope you're doing good'. For the love of God, doing good is supposed to mean doing something of some use to others, as in giving alms; if I am feeling fine, I ought to say 'I'm fine/doing well' or 'I'm alright' or 'I'm okay', even, and only an arrogant boor will declare to the world 'I'm good'!

5 comments:

Suvro Chatterjee said...

Funny that this one should be one of my most visited posts, yet no one has written a comment here yet!

Shilpi said...

There were comments here before somebody accidentally deleted them!

Suvro Chatterjee said...

Oh, I know, but I meant that there haven't been any new comments in a long time.

Shilpi said...

Oops, sorry. Yes, that thought sauntered in some hours later after I'd typed that comment and hit the send button.

I'm sad to say that I show no signs of improvement in the 'doing good' bit. The cashier at a gas station where I get my cigarettes has started expecting me to show up every other evening, and he says with a smile that he's 'okay' or 'fine' or even 'alright', but that confounded 'I'm good' is the one that flutters out of me even before I can bring it back.

I wanted to use this little post of yours but seeing that many Americans use the 'anyways' and seeing that you haven't been very kind about those who do....I'm now in a bit of a quandary. Hmm.

Debotosh said...

Sir ,
Recently i too found a sample of such 'best' wishes . Take a look at this , and this mail was sent by a correspondent/copy editor of a biweekly English magazine !Here is the mail that i received yesterday :

Dear Mr Chatterjee,

Our magazine features a "Readers' space" (single page) for contributions from our readers in every issue.

Best,
GN

--
sarthak ray
correspondent and copy editor
governance now

+91 99583 52772