A NEW FORCE IN LANGUAGE CHANGE

Many factors influence the development of language, as we all know. Of late a new one has come to the fore with force: the Internet with its online free translators. Willy-nilly these data banks are eroding language by supplying erroneous equivalents to phrases and idiomatic expressions. They offer sloth and greenhorn translators a quick response to their queries. Television is the means through which this change is propelled. Examples:

I have heard in Spanish: "mono veo, mono hace" which I take is a translation of "Monkey see, monkey do." For "mono the imitación" we are given: "ape" only. 

"Enter the rag" is what we get in English for "entrar al trapo", instead of the correct "rise to the bait." 

If a translator wishes to know the equivalent of "a hair of the dog that bit you" will get: "un pelo del perro que te mordió." 

For "rise to the bait" we find "muerde el anzuelo." 

"Be sitting pretty" ends up as "estar bien sentado."

Internet translators are a powerful force in language change today. And they are swift. If there were subtle changes in one generation, now we have them in ten years or less.