The more things change...

As "communication" increases, literacy declines. When language is slighted and abused, wounds are inflicted on our social body. As our ability to use language degenerates, we become increasingly impoverished--socially, intellectually, artistically, and morally. As concision, grace, concinnity, and elegance decline, the country grows shapeless and barbaric.

John Metcalfe, from Kicking Against the Pricks (1982)