Labels are powerful, especially the stickier ones. The term,
jejemon, is an outstanding example.
Before this phenomenon even became a word-of-mouth, I've already been bothered by the occurrence of a weird language pervading the web, one that made use of capitalized letters in all the wrong places.
Jejenese, as it is now called, highlights the importance of inserting the letters h, x, and z, and celebrates the replacement of ordinary English letters with Hindu-Arabic numerals in a non-algebraic context.
Here's an example:
GMA-7 Michael Fajatin also made funny, interesting reports on the jejemon invasion. Click
here and
here.
I've never encouraged
jejenese, but when kids begin writing this way, to the detriment of their academic mastery of English, there is clearly a reason to be concerned.
Writing, after all, is a discipline. It is putting thoughts—abstract, invisible ideas in one's brain—into tangible letters which form words, then phrases, and then sentences. It is a skill to choose the right words or to know which letters must be capitalized; it is even a bigger task to word them in a way that is consistent with time, with mood, and with one's intentions. If we coddle
jejenese, a form of writing not bound by rules, we may be in danger of losing this discipline.
But genuine concern must not translate to intellectual snobbery. I don't see how branding them with pejorative terms would help them. Which is why I haven't opted to be part of Facebook groups like
Jejebusters whose sole goal is to wipe the
jejemons out of the face of this world. There is a chasm of difference between mocking and helping them.
What I'm saying is that the popularity of the
jejemons is a call to educators—both teachers and parents alike—to heighten efforts to train our children in language. At this point I agree with Sec.
Guilbert GilbertTeodoro, and I truly hope he means this:
(Photos: Erwin San Luis, via Facebook, and
Katrina Magallanes)
UPDATE May 4, 2010: Follow this
interesting discussion in my Multiply.