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[readingthedark]

greygirlbeast brought up slang today and my comment ran long, so I figured I'd put it here:
An odd thing. I was complaining to Spooky about baffling online slang, and that led to a general discussion of slang as a phenomenon associated more with subcultures than with linguistic evolution, and to a discussion of slang that attended various times and scenes and

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[readingthedark]

Based on the Internet vibe of my little ramble, I'd say that the meaning and nature of intelligence is shifting too. Now, being able to find information is often much more valuable than being able to retain information. Sure, people had commonplace books that they could carry around with them, but the Internet make information more omnipresent. And, yeah, I think being able to interact with strangers without leaving one's home has also had a significant impact on culture and social constructs. Along with not enjoying the marginalization of being an out-group, it's also a whole lot easier to find one's own in-groups.

I used to be so happy for Siegfried and Roy because there just can't be that many gay lion tamers in the world...but now I bet there's a discussion board somewhere (or it'd be easy enough to start). But information illiteracy and the digital divide are certainly emerging as barriers that marginalize. "Food" is a great metaphor for it because we run into some of the same challenges, where cheap food that feels filling isn't anywhere near as nutritious as most health care professionals would suggest. Using the easiest sources on the Internet rarely provides the complete picture...yet to hammer the whole thing home, I read a study that implied that the majority of physicians in the United States use Wikipedia as their primary starting point for medical research because they just start at Google like everybody else...