I got chewed out by my mum recently, for using an improper word with a friend over the phone. This got me thinking. How do we define what language is improper nowadays? To me, it would depend on the other parties in a conversation. What is improper to my parents, and the older generation, may very well be tolerated, accepted, even expected by those of my generation. My grandparents would probably get out the detergent if they heard somebody from my generation greeting a friend. Shifting times and evolving language, indeed.

This is not to say I condone rudeness. There are few among us who can talk to his (or her) parents using the same language they use with their friends. For those who can, I applaud them. They survive in their generation without bowing to pressure of how to speak, or act. For those who can't, we know better (we should, anyway) than to speak suchly to the older generation. Indeed, we maintain two separate vocabularies and grammars, for different audiences. Woe indeed to the one who lets his parents hear him using the other language, as I discovered.

Does this mean that we no longer respect our friends? I disagree. To be rude would be to behave in a shocking, unacceptable way. This is a judgement call, as I have discussed earlier. What is rude to one may be natural to another. In a way, you could say that when adjusting our language, we are respecting the values and customs of others.