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YouTubeTenzo wrote >>
I think we are confusing the diference between a word being in the dictionary and being proper English.
Let me ask the obvious question. Who decides what is "proper" English, and how do they get to make that decision?
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Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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jackoh wrote >>
Tenzo wrote >>
I think we are confusing the diference between a word being in the dictionary and being proper English.Let me ask the obvious question. Who decides what is "proper" English, and how do they get to make that decision?
The Queen, I believe she owns it
Posted 2 years ago # -
jackoh
The Village
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Tenzo wrote >>
jackoh wrote >>
Tenzo wrote >>
I think we are confusing the diference between a word being in the dictionary and being proper English.Let me ask the obvious question. Who decides what is "proper" English, and how do they get to make that decision?
The Queen, I believe she owns it
In this town, which queen are we talking about?
Posted 2 years ago # -
Talcott
Clintonville
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jackoh wrote >>
Tenzo wrote >>
I think we are confusing the diference between a word being in the dictionary and being proper English.Let me ask the obvious question. Who decides what is "proper" English, and how do they get to make that decision?
The short answer is the group in power. And that goes for any language, throughout history, not just English. There is no objective reason why one way of speaking English is more or less formal than another.* There are cultural reasons to speak according to the standard, but that standard itself shifts as (cultural/regional/class/ethnic) groups move in and out of power. People decrying the death of language will point out that there are things that you can say in a job interview today that you never could have 20-30 years ago, and that's true. On the other hand, there are things you could say at a job interview 20-30 years ago that you never could today. It only feels like things are falling apart because we generally see our own time as a kind of pinnacle. It's the same kind of effect that leads people to think that music was perfect the year they graduated from high school (unfortunately for me, 1999 was an awful year for music).
In general, today's reckless abuse of language is tomorrow's proper use of language. Hell, we're all speaking a highly bastardized dialect of German anyway.
/descriptivist rambling
Actually, I find all of the ways that people talk fascinating. It's kinda amazing that the same person can understand this part of the sentence, and teh 1 i'm writin' hear!!111!!!!!!11 Even if they don't want to admit it.
*for the record, I'm excluding intentionally incoherent ways of speaking English, and only focusing on English with the intent to communicate.
Posted 2 years ago # -
catnfiddle
Giant Corncob District
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I'm getting horribly close to whipping out my linguistics textbook and transcribing how the Court of Chancery affected the development of the English language.
Posted 2 years ago # -
L.I. to Buckeye
West side/Galloway
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DonnaTate
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What about the people who use the word "like" at least 3 times in every sentence? Actually, that annoys me even more than the overuse of "actually". Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
Or what about people who throw in "at" unnecessarily? "Where is my coat at?" If someone can tell me what purpose the "at" serves I'll let it stop annoying me.
Oh, and personally, I think people referring to soda as "pop" is pretty darn annoying. How does that word even describe the object? LOLAnd thank you for letting me get that off my chest. I feel better. :)
Posted 2 years ago # -
catnfiddle
Giant Corncob District
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Talcott
Clintonville
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kit444
Elsewhere
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DonnaTate wrote >>
Or what about people who throw in "at" unnecessarily? "Where is my coat at?" If someone can tell me what purpose the "at" serves I'll let it stop annoying me.
The "at" thing grinds me as well. Also, as Manatee said before, "Honestly". If you have to preface something with "Honestly", then that implies that anything you don't preface with that word isn't. Not to imply Manatee isn't honest. Honestly, I don't know her so how I could know? ;-)
Additionally, textspeak in general bothers me. Do you need to substitute "u" for "you" and "2" for "to"? Are you saving that much space? I feel like I need a decoder to read some people's texts, and when it blends into other correspondence it's even more bothersome. I suppose that should be another thread.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Anima Mundi
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At an east coast alley bodega I asked through 2 inches of glass for a pop. The little asian man returned with an even littler old man and said this was his pop. I ask for soda or cola now.
Posted 2 years ago #
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