# Is an Official English Language Academy/Board a Good Idea? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 25, 2017, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808 "2017-10-25T13:15:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/1 "2017-10-25T13:15:46Z")
Many countries have some form of a language regulatory commission that acts as an arbiter in determining what constitutes correct language usage. France, for example, has the [Academie Francaise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise) and Norway has the [Language Council of Norway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_Council_of_Norway). There’s an association of official Spanish language academies that is represented in most if not all Spanish speaking countries. These type of bodies don’t usually have the force of law, but act in an advisory capacity. Why are there no “official” English language regulatory bodies? Do you think having one would be a good idea? ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/2 "2017-10-25T13:33:54Z")
English doesn’t need an officiating body. I think that the main reason various countries have official language police is because they are trying to prevent an invasion of English into their language and culture. But English is the dominant language for our generation And when you’re the boss, you don’t fear the little guys. There’s the famous quote that English “doesn’t just borrow words; it pursues other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/3 "2017-10-25T13:38:51Z")
Which country is going to sponsor this board or academy? Because British English is different than American English which is different than the English spoken in one of the other countries on five continents where English is a de jure or de facto official language. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/4 "2017-10-25T13:40:30Z")
What country do you think such a board should be domiciled in? How about India, the country with the largest number of English speakers? ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/5 "2017-10-25T13:57:42Z")
Honestly, this makes about as much sense to me as a fashion board, that would act as an arbiter of what one could and could not wear. In other words, no, it is not a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/6 "2017-10-25T14:07:08Z")
The idea of a language regulatory body is not a notion from out of left-field. They’re quite common. [List of language regulators - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_language_regulators) What makes having one for English a bad idea? One could argue that the need to communicate with precision (and therefore greater universal understanding) is more important now than ever. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/7 "2017-10-25T14:23:27Z")
What makes it a good idea? What problem would this solve? Seems about as useful as a bicycle for fish. A great way to spend money if you’ve simply got too much laying around. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/8 "2017-10-25T14:25:39Z")
I think one of the reasons that English has been so successful is its lack of such a body. It’s basically the original open source project. And you still haven’t answered the question of which country would host such a body. Or would there be separate ones in each English-speaking country? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/9 "2017-10-25T14:34:09Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And you still haven’t answered the question of which country would host such a body. Or would there be separate ones in each English-speaking country? According to **Cardigan** ’s list, that’s usually how it works. One for each country. Not sure how that helps anything. The US and UK might be “two countries separated by a common language”, but is there an epidemic of English speakers _within_ the US misunderstanding each other? Enough to make a large, expensive language bureaucracy a good use of our time and money? Is it that hard to figure out “Y’all” and “pop” versus “you guys” and “soda”? ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/10 "2017-10-25T14:35:14Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And you still haven’t answered the question of which country would host such a body. Or would there be separate ones in each English-speaking country? The [Spanish model](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Spanish_Language_Academies) seems appropriate given the colonial nature of both cultures. Maybe the HQ is in London and chapters in places like Washington, Ottawa, Canberra, etc. To be honest, the idea of an English language governing body isn’t something I’m particularly passionate about, but I couldn’t help notice that are a number of folks around here that are…how should one put it…_sticklers_ for grammar, that the idea might hold considerable appeal. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/11 "2017-10-25T14:41:31Z")
How is such a body going to enforce violations of the rules of grammar, spelling, punctuation and so forth? And what does such enforcement mean when people knowingly violate the rules for artistic or literary reasons? (That said, the use of “payed” instead of “paid”, which is widely done on this board, makes me twitch.) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/12 "2017-10-25T15:24:19Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > English doesn’t need an officiating body. > > I think that the main reason various countries have official language police is because they are trying to prevent an invasion of English into their language and culture. > But English is the dominant language for our generation And several of those Academies were born in the 18th century. Get your head out of your navel… ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/13 "2017-10-25T15:44:17Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > What country do you think such a board should be domiciled in? How about India, the country with the largest number of English speakers? They would be the second largest speaker of English. English or Hinglish - which will India choose? - [English or Hinglish - which will India choose? - BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20500312) ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/14 "2017-10-25T15:48:18Z")
The appeal of Grammar Nazis rests on the assumption they don’t have their own SS. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/15 "2017-10-25T15:50:17Z")
There’s no need for one. It’s extremely rare for people to be confused by a word, and one of its strengths is in the way it evolved. The very idea of a board being able dictate language is amusing. Maybe they can get King Canute on board to prevent the change, but I guess he’s all tide up. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/16 "2017-10-25T15:54:28Z")
Such a board is something up with which we shall not put!! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/17 "2017-10-25T16:54:14Z")
OK. We start an academy. The academy makes one choice, Hollywood makes another. Guess who wins. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/18 "2017-10-25T17:04:56Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > How is such a body going to enforce violations of the rules of grammar, spelling, punctuation and so forth? It doesn’t appear the aforementioned language boards have much in the way of enforcement powers, and are advisory in nature, but it might be interesting if they had real power. Enforcement could begin with high profile individuals operating in situations where clear communications are absolutely essential. Publicly reprimand these folks when their **intent** is less than crystal clear. You know, like situations where it depends on what your [definition of ‘is’ is](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Bill_Clinton), or when [Obama tapps your phone during the very sacred election process](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/837996746236182529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.factcheck.org%2F2017%2F09%2Frevisiting-trumps-wiretap-tweets%2F). People, after all, look to their leaders to set the example. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/19 "2017-10-25T17:16:52Z")
France, Spain, and Norway probably really don’t need theirs either. I don’t have it to hand, but I’m quite sure in one of these threads, a french doper (I wanna say clairobscur) shared his opinion of the Academie Francaise which was that it is a basically a club for illustrious french writers, politicians and other notable academics. While they have a pro forma dictionary that they pretend to work on, and they issue mostly ignored edicts every once in a while on how french people should say ‘send an email’, they mostly just chill. A lot of the functions of a language board are already done in English by private dictionary companies and the lexicographers they train and employ. Regardless of whether you have a board or not, language changes frequently and the movement of those changes from slang to informal to formal speaking and writing is pretty well filtered by the myriad journals, newspapers and publishers who maintain style guides and update and adapt as needed to satisfy their consumers. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808/20 "2017-10-25T17:25:45Z")
The Acadamie Francaise job is to protect French from English. > **[France's Académie française battles to protect language from English](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8820304/Frances-Academie-francaise-battles-to-protect-language-from-English.html)** > > France's Académie française, official custodians of the French language, has taken its battle to fight the invasion of English and bad French to the internet with a new interactive web service. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-official-english-language-academy-board-a-good-idea/799808.md?page=2)