Can למה replace בגלל?

Question

I am a native hebrew speaker and I noticed that in colloquial hebrew some people tend to replace בגלל/because with למה/why. Do you think it is possible that this will become a formal part of modern hebrew? Example: אני קיים בגלל שאני חושב -> אני קיים למה אני חושב.

Answer 1

I hope not! it is Colloquialism or if you will, slang. It is akin to the replacement of IS for plural instead of ARE in the US. You must have noticed that even highly educated speakers and writers have done so lately. It seams to be the trend. Personally I find both replacing בגלל/because with למה/why and replacing IS for ARE wrong.