Editor’s Note: Thank you to our friends at Reading Rockets for recommending this resource

 
[Source:  Reading Rockets]
TED playlists were a new concept to me. As the name suggests, talks on similar topics are gathered together to form a playlist. One playlist is called Words, Words, Words, and it contains talks on several topics related to words.
For me, one highlight on Words, Words, Words is a talk given by linguist John McWhorter called “Txting is killing language. JK.” In his talk, McWhorter encourages us to think about email and text messaging not as the “scourge” of the English language, but rather a new form of language between writing and talking. In describing speech in relation to writing, he says this: If humanity existed for 24 hours, then writing only came along at about 11:09 PM. Interesting way to think about our writing development!
Visit this TED Talks Playlist