Underground Construction - February 2019 - 4

EDITOR'S LOG
Robert Carpenter | Editor-in-Chief

Farcical and Other Lost Words

Words are essential to my profession so I'm admittedly sensitive. But
I sometimes wonder if technology
is killing our written and spoken vocabulary?
I recently read a report that
claimed modern society is using only
about 1/3 of its vocabulary compared
to 100 years ago. If that's true, it represents an incredible factoid.
We look back to the turn of the
20th century with jaded eyes as most
would consider it a period of dull,
backward lifestyles with limited options and opportunities. People today
would consider it a time of rudimentary technology when modern communications was but an idle dream
in the minds of their contemporary
researchers and scientists. It was, in
essence, a simpler time.
Yet, those simple people could
apparently express themselves in a
much more elegant and precise manner than what most people today
can even conceptualize. Their jargon
and slang would be as foreign to us
as Emoji characterization would be
to them.
Communication skills interact
with everything we do in life. I worry
that the value of articulate and effective communication is being lost
in modern society along with our
vocabulary.
In the underground infrastructure
markets, communication has always
been extremely important. From
designing projects to bid documents
to jobsite operations, direct, effective
communication is critical to any project's success or failure. With a communications breakdown, bad things
happen and that includes following
safety protocols on the job.
Today, we obviously communicate
much differently than in the past.
We're all part of the cell phone generation. How we go through the day is
now shaped with instant communication and constant contact at our fin-

FEBRUARY 2019 | UConOnline.com

gertips. Texting has further deteriorated our communication skills. It has
introduced abbreviations and slang to
intrude into all levels of communication. A recent report on the impact of
texting upon students revealed that,
not surprisingly, spelling, English and
communication skills have deteriorated from previous standards and
that decaying spiral is expected to
continue.
To be fair, we've all become addicted to the convenience of our cell
phones. How many of you would
ever leave your house without your
phone? Virtually no one.
While two-way radios are still in
use on jobsite, you will rarely find
anyone from a laborer to project
manager that doesn't also carry their
phone, even using it to communicate
with other workers. When on a job
site, you don't have to be eloquent in
communication. But you do need to
be precise, fully descriptive and have
instant recognition of what people
are communicating to you. The risks
are too great to ignore good communications.
I've had more than one contractor
complain to me about getting employees on jobsites to fully understand what's going on and communicate properly. In one instance, a
contractor was ticketed for a minor
safety violation by OSHA, yet he
knew that firm instructions were in
place that would ensure employees
met the requirements. It turns out
the instructions were texted out to
workers and the communication was
too vague or misinterpreted.
Remember cursive writing? It
used to be a key cornerstone of written communication as cursive was
faster than printing plus you needed
cursive for your signature on formal
documents. Now, with keyboards and
touch screens on every device, cursive is deemed redundant and is no
longer taught in classrooms. Typing

class doesn't exist either as it is assumed that thumb and the Columbus
(search and discover) finger typing
methods have already been perfected
before students hit junior high.
Another relevant factoid is that
supposedly we've had more scientific
achievements since 1950 than all human history combined prior to that
date. That's worth pondering.
Communication took a giant leap
forward in 1836 when the first practical telegraph was invented. Before
that infrastructure was established,
the speed of both casual and critical
communication was dependent upon
a fast horse or schooner. But with the
installation of the telegraph between
east and west coasts, it marked the
beginning of linking the entire country together.
In 1876, just 50 years after the
invention of the telegraph, Thomas
Edison patented the first practical
telephone and the telegraph soon
became a thing of the past. Next up
was the development of television.
Multiple inventions contributed to its
development, but what is generally
considered the first actual television
broadcast occurred in 1926, ironically
50 years after the invention of the
telephone and 100 years after the
telegraph.
Where will communication end
up in another 50 years? Will our
language devolve into emojis? I can't
imagine abandoning the written
word, but 100 years ago, I doubt if
anyone could imagine using cutesy,
simplistic pictures and bizarre abbreviations to describe what they could
so precisely and elegantly convey
with spoken and written language.

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Underground Construction - February 2019

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