# Predict changes in English grammar/usage over the next 100 years **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 15, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522 "2009-08-15T15:09:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/21 "2009-08-15T20:34:43Z")
I won’t predict, but I will _hope_ that ‘axe’ replaces ask. Only to piss off the assholes that can’t get over the fact that many people pronounce it that way and they are going to have to _accept it._ I personally love the word ‘ask’ and the way it slides off the tongue. But, holy hell, somehow I manage to avoid having a stroke everytime someone pronounces it ‘axe’ ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/22 "2009-08-15T21:08:48Z")
English teachers will scold children who say “whoevs” when “whomevs” is correct. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/23 "2009-08-15T21:43:39Z")
Ebonics has become mainstream already, and with African American culture becoming the norm, it already has replaced Rock N’ Roll in music, more phrases will enter. There really is no such thing as “Correct English” anymore with the politically correct world we live in. Someone may say “I be going,” and where once we woud say “that’s incorrect, it’s ‘I _am_ going’,” today the argument would be made, the use of the verb “BE” is a dialect and one cannot say one form of dialect is superior or inferior to another, so as long as they convey an equal meaing they are both correct. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/24 "2009-08-15T21:52:04Z")
No one will use adverbs anymore. I’m half-serious. The other day I heard a sportscaster say, “he’s really playing aggressive today.” Oh, really? I thought he was playing baseball. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/25 "2009-08-15T21:56:42Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > I won’t predict, but I will _hope_ that ‘axe’ replaces ask. > > Only to piss off the assholes that can’t get over the fact that many people pronounce it that way and they are going to have to _accept it._ > > I personally love the word ‘ask’ and the way it slides off the tongue. But, holy hell, somehow I manage to avoid having a stroke everytime someone pronounces it ‘axe’ Could it be that this pronunciation is sort of like the tendency for native Spanish speakers, who when saying an English word that begins with “sp” add an “e” at the beginning, as in, “I think she’s really especial”? There are few, perhaps no words in the Spanish language that begin with “sp”, which accounts for this. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/26 "2009-08-15T22:24:13Z")
“Like” will be considered a perfectly acceptable alternative to “as” or “as if” by everyone, including grammar pedants. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/27 "2009-08-15T23:45:00Z")
Grammar will not change. It hasn’t since Old English died out, so there’s no reason to believe it will change in the next century. Pronouns won’t change. Again, there hasn’t been a change in pronouns since “you” replaced “thou/thee/thy.” Spelling will undergo slight changes, but nothing to make it unreadable to us. Texting is slang and will not be used outside of text messages. There’s no reason to assume that text messages will continue to be used indefinitely and I can see them dying out in 20-30 years. Certain terms for sublanguages will enter the language, but only a handful. Basically, any difficulty in understanding English in 2109 would be akin to any difficulty in someone from 1909 understanding current English: there will be terms for new inventions, and new words will have entered the language, but most of it will be fully comprehensible. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/28 "2009-08-15T23:50:15Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Ebonics has become mainstream already, and with African American culture becoming the norm, **it already has replaced Rock N’ Roll in music** , more phrases will enter. You’re aware this is just a marketing tactic by people connected to the rap/R&B genres right? Rock music absolutely dwarfs rap/R&B in terms of sales and radio airplay. It’s not even close. ETA: I can’t recall ever hearing anyone use “myself” for “me”. Who does this? ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/29 "2009-08-15T23:55:05Z")
Writing by hand? What was _that_ all about? ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/30 "2009-08-16T00:07:15Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Ebonics has become mainstream already, and with African American culture becoming the norm, it already has replaced Rock N’ Roll in music, more phrases will enter. > > There really is no such thing as “Correct English” anymore with the politically correct world we live in. > > Someone may say “I be going,” and where once we woud say “that’s incorrect, it’s ‘I _am_ going’,” today the argument would be made, the use of the verb “BE” is a dialect and one cannot say one form of dialect is superior or inferior to another, so as long as they convey an equal meaing they are both correct. I agree that this relativism would, all things being equal, accelerate changes in English. But telecommunications is a countervailing force, tending to homogenize the language, so the effect will be small, or a total wash. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/31 "2009-08-16T00:53:28Z")
I do think select online/text abbreviations will become valid interjections (specifically lol, rofl, omg, and prolly brb), with varying degrees of informality. And I mean both in writing and actual speech, though lol may mostly be used sarcastically. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/32 "2009-08-16T15:40:57Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Pronouns won’t change. Again, there hasn’t been a change in pronouns since “you” replaced “thou/thee/thy.” I think we’ll see “they/their” become an accepted gender-neutral alternative to “he/him/his” and “she/her/her.” This substitution is already commonplace in informal speech and writing, and I think it will become accepted in formal speech and writing as well. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/33 "2009-08-16T16:07:37Z")
For a serious answer . . . Spanish is going to have a huge impact on American English in the next 100 years. I would guess (and in fact I hope these happen): -A normalizing of vowels. -Removal of most redundant double letters -PH turns to F -Accent marks _could_ come into use but this is probably the least likely because they look so “foreign” (though attitudes can and do change) -Exceedingly illogical spellings will be sorted out to some extent (rough, tough . . . _dough?_) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/34 "2009-08-16T17:09:44Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > I think we’ll see “they/their” become an accepted gender-neutral alternative to “he/him/his” and “she/her/her.” This substitution is already commonplace in informal speech and writing, and I think it will become accepted in formal speech and writing as well. Thing is, it’s been commonplace since Shakespeare, but people still whinge about it. I’d love to see the whinging stop. **Markxxx** , are you implying that African-American musical styles like rap are replacing European-American musical styles like rock-n-roll? That seems a little weird to me :). I agree that the main changes will likely be in specific words. I’d love to see “y’all” become standard, as I think it’s a term that adds clarity and specificity to the language. “Ain’t” similarly serves a purpose for a first-person equivalent to “isn’t” or “aren’t.” But I ain’t holding my breath, y’all. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/35 "2009-08-16T17:16:30Z")
One more boring prediction, and then a more speculative one. Boring: I’d love to see acceptance of punctuation appearing on the outside of quotation marks, when the punctuation is part of the overall sentence and not part of the quotation. For example, > [@hypothetical prose in a hundred years](#): > > “Look for the virusinoid”, Emily said, “and don’t let it get into the Ubernet”. Speculative: As China and India become the centers of world economics and culture, Chinese terms will increasingly permeate English. More significantly, India’s blend of several different languages, including English, will make it much easier for Indian slang to become widespread throughout the English-speaking world, and neologisms for technology will often be some sort of cross between English and Hindi. ---
**Author:** ![Dusty\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba8739/32.png) [@Dusty\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty_Rose)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/36 "2009-08-16T22:44:11Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > I think we’ll see “they/their” become an accepted gender-neutral alternative to “he/him/his” and “she/her/her.” This substitution is already commonplace in informal speech and writing, and I think it will become accepted in formal speech and writing as well. I hope so. I’m a fan this because it just sounds more natural to me. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/37 "2009-08-16T23:18:07Z")
> [@Dusty\_Rose](#): > > I hope so. I’m a fan this because it just sounds more natural to me. I like it when the gender is unclear, but I’ve heard a lot of people use it when they know the gender and it just sounds weird to me. “Where’s Joe?” “They went to the store.” I think it’s mostly confined to the south. At least I’ve never heard someone from outside of there say it. Oh, and I also vote for “y’all” to be accepted. It’s logical and necessary. ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/38 "2009-08-16T23:33:10Z")
I predict things like “gonna” are going to become accepted, much sooner than 100 years. Limits on what does/doesn’t form a sentence or paragraph will probably go away. ---
**Author:** ![Dusty\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba8739/32.png) [@Dusty\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty_Rose)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/39 "2009-08-16T23:41:36Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I like it when the gender is unclear, but I’ve heard a lot of people use it when they know the gender and it just sounds weird to me. > > “Where’s Joe?” > > “They went to the store.” > > I think it’s mostly confined to the south. At least I’ve never heard someone from outside of there say it. > > Oh, and I also vote for “y’all” to be accepted. It’s logical and necessary. I like y’all, though I don’t hear it as often as I used to. And I don’t think I explained what I meant regarding the singular use of they. I didn’t mean use it _instead_ of gender, just when gender isn’t necessary, or when it’s “proper” to use both. “Who’s at the door?” “I don’t know, but they’ve rung the bell twice.” or “Could everyone take his or her seat, please?” vs. “Could everyone take their seat, please?” Just sounds better to me, less stilted I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Dusty\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba8739/32.png) [@Dusty\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty_Rose)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522/40 "2009-08-16T23:44:42Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > **Idiocracy** is prolly the best crappy movie of the last ten years. Love it. That is a perfect description of that movie! Mind if I steal it? Sorry all. I’ll stay on topic starting… NOW. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-changes-in-english-grammar-usage-over-the-next-100-years/506522.md?page=3)