I dunno what that means, sorry.
He Whose Name We Dre Not Speak, that’s whose. :eek:
Back when I was in grammar (I told you so) school, in the early fifties, pretty much all schools “whacked knuckles”. No, it didn’t do any good.
Not public schools, kiddo.
Descriptivism is usually defined (at least by me) as the style, meaning, usage, and manner of the language as used by “good” writers (those who write professionally for books, magazines, newspapers, academia etc.). If good writers use enormity as a synonym for enormousness, it is a synonym, no matter what the old-fashioned usage guides say. If they don’t use irregardless and ain’t and kewl and other words (except for effect) then those words aren’t acceptable, even if millions of others use them.
Descriptivism is a practical response to a language that changes daily. Its drawback is that no two good writers ever agree on any set of acceptable usages (see the usage panel in the American Heritage Dictionary) so when non-professional writers want to attempt to write more formally or “acceptably” it is difficult for them to find the boundaries. Usage guides are an attempt to solve this problem. They are all hopelessly out of date at the moment they are printed but they have the advantage that almost nothing in them will be actually unacceptable. Not being unacceptable is not the same as being acceptable. (All you people who do threads on “double negatives” take note.)
Prescriptivists hold that there are standards to the language whose lines should never be crossed in formal writing, and also have a much wider definition of formal writing. This creates impossible problems, IMO, since the rate of language change increases yearly and since no two usage guides or rhetorical manuals agree on all items. If the supposed best experts on the language cannot agree on what is correct, how can they possibly decree what is acceptable? And who do they point to as the authority for this?
Nonetheless, most students get taught prescriptively. I’d teach that way, too. It’s a million times easier. Most, if not all, good writers get past this and learn to use their own judgment for what sounds and feels the best in any particular situation. That’s pretty much what makes them good writers. Others are left in a muddle and again it’s easier to state rules and lay down lines when in a muddle.
My position is simple. There is and can never be any such thing as “correct” English. There is only “good” English. Fortunately, we can all aspire to good English. And we can all agree that “so lik just do whatever, dood1” just aint’ good English, irregardless.
And then showcases how silly a way of thinking about punctuation that is with To err is human; to forgive divine. To err is human tap tap to forgive divine, to err is human tap tap tap to forgive divine. It has less to do with the pausing and more with how the two clauses relate to each other. Semicolons join two similar ideas while colons signify a more abrupt intrusion by another clause. At least, that’s what she says in her book.
I think an excellent example of the importance of good english, as clearly described above by Exapno Mapcase, would be the Second Amendment. I’ve heard and read good arguements on both sides as to exactly what it says.
If you’re saying there was no “knuckle whacking” in public schools in the fifties, I’ll call you on that. Many schools had special paddles.
Witness this beauty.
But I don’t really think that’s what you meant.
Next topic: spelling!
Uh, that’s french for arguments. It’s much prettier than the english version.
You did that on purpose, didn’t you.
*** Ponder
“French” and “English” should both be capitalized, so I’d stop digging were I you.
Not if I’m typing in French. We’re no longer expected to respect those people.
Well, I’m off to Al’s Big Burger to get me a cheeseburger and some Freedom Fries.
Wait a minute! We can love The French again, can’t we? Whee! I mean oui!
mangeorge, who is “Shovel Ready”.
Cheeseburger? Doesn’t your name mean “eat barley”?
My favorite Exapno paragraph of all time.
Dr Dre?
So you’re saying English is just a pop culture phenomenon, dictated by whoever the pop-writer-du-jour happens to be? That works for me. Music, art, movies, etc. are often decided the same way… by popular opinion. It’s a language of the people, by the people, for the people, damn it, no matter what the British say!
If we wanted an actual authority, we’d all start speaking French and referring to the Académie française.
Yep. I talk the talk, but I don’t walk the walk. I’m weak.
Yeah, them * Brits. They keep trying to steal our language. Pret-ty cheeky, I must say.
*I would have said “bloody” here, but I’m still not sure exactly what it means.
Well, you know what they say, we’re two people separated by a common language.
In general, I think it’s pretty cool.