FAO Old Git

It's a very fine line that I walk. Of course language rules are important; as well as ensuring coherence, they can reate a sense of identity and unity. Official publications like newspapers need to adhere to the current commonly accepted rules of spelling and punctuation to simply be understood and respected.

Meanwhile, beneath the surface, language evolves and changes like molten lava, as reflected by people's use in speech or on message boards such as this one. When a large enough proportion of the population think that their's is the correct form, the institutions, style guides and grammar books will change.

The problem is that although there is no such thing as 'correct' language, it's everso (one word or two?) much fun to pretend that there is and to correct people who make 'mistakes'. Those that know more can also correct people who correct people . It's a bit like a fine artist - once Michelangelo knew how to make a perfect sculpture, he was licensed to play around with the rules of anatomy, make the hands bigger or the willy smaller. You can only be wrong if you know what's right.

If you find the prescriptivism/descriptivism debate interesting, I suggest you listen to Stephen Fry's latest podgram User Posted Link (or read it here: User Posted Link )

Posted By: Dave in France on February 19th 2009 at 15:43:59

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