I'm Major Jackson and this is the slowdown.

I'm Major Jackson and this is the slowdown. I love listening to public conversations.

They allow me to check the pulse of language.

Once, while waiting for my friend Pragita at the bar at Grand Central Station, I eavesdropped on the conversation next to me.

By coincidence, I was sitting next to a fundraising officer and an alumnus of the University of Vermont, where I worked at the time.

I introduced myself and announced that I taught in the English department.

After Pleasantries, the UVM alumnus said quite firmly,

I stopped hiring English graduates at my company.

None of them know how to speak or write cogent emails. He blamed the

informality of texting and a general lack of business etiquette. I was surprised by his generalizations. I think my

students are discerning and capable writers. Like any number of English

students across the country, they just face a unique set of challenges.

Maybe there is a laxness to communication compared to previous years work environments.

But with all the platforms of staying constantly in touch with colleagues,

family and friends,

a newly minted English major navigates multiple communication modes and not just

texting and emails. I also find it difficult to successfully code switch between different environments.

I once texted a senior colleague who had been at the institution 30 years,

I'll catch you at lunch, homie."

She asked later over coffee.

What's this word, homie?

But the challenges of the

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