tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27807460.post6633267738045174327..comments2024-03-22T13:57:42.835-04:00Comments on Wishydig: WWMCDWishydighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141057866370676641noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27807460.post-54249538910473035762007-10-21T13:58:00.000-04:002007-10-21T13:58:00.000-04:00It makes me wonder how much influence institutions...It makes me wonder how much influence institutions can really have on language. I'm thinking of the attempts to Latinize certain aspects of English grammar, but also of a hundred million Mom's admonishing their children that "ain't" isn't a word. While these efforts change our ideas about what's "correct," the language, in usage, seems to march along merrily oblivious.<BR/><BR/>I think this effective powerlessness ("Language speaks us," as the old man says) might be why you see such vain and virulent attempts to exert control over language.<BR/><BR/>Also, I like the idea of Michael as a "grammar-jammer," fighting the powers that be with inconsistent spelling. Now, just start intermittently replacing your S's with F's, and you'll be a force to be reckoned with (end-of-sentence preposition).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27807460.post-284827695781578252007-10-19T09:19:00.000-04:002007-10-19T09:19:00.000-04:00Sorry, the correct link to my column is here.Sorry, the correct link to my column is <A HREF="http://blog.oup.com/2007/10/corpus-2/" REL="nofollow">here</A>.Ben Zimmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02927962158447853691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27807460.post-68876418278913559482007-10-19T07:38:00.000-04:002007-10-19T07:38:00.000-04:00Michael and Nancy, I've greatly enjoyed your collo...Michael and Nancy, I've greatly enjoyed your colloquy, and I hope my <A HREF="http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com/away_with_words/2007/10/cord-or-chord-r.html" REL="nofollow">column</A> following up on the ABC News piece (and the reactions it has provoked) is a useful contribution to the discussion. As Michael observed, even if a dictionary decides to include an emerging variant, it can still provide guidance about how to judge the appropriateness and acceptability of its use. In the case of <I>NOAD</I>, the descriptivist/prescriptivist divide has been bridged by including usage notes derived from <I>Garner's Modern American Usage</I>.Ben Zimmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02927962158447853691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27807460.post-31800759088928858852007-10-18T22:54:00.000-04:002007-10-18T22:54:00.000-04:00Thanks Nancy.When I was doing my masters I has a b...Thanks Nancy.<BR/><BR/>When I was doing my masters I has a brief Anglophile stage where I chose to use all British spellings in my papers. One professor just shook his head and said 'We're in America and you don't even speak with an accent. Stop it.'<BR/><BR/>Another professor noticed the spellings (she missed the -our spellings but the -tre spellings were more obvious) and simply told me to choose one system and stick with it. (She's Canadian--otherwise I don't think I could have gotten her to abide by <EM>checque</EM>.)<BR/><BR/>I decided to split the difference and ignore both bits of advice.<BR/><BR/>But they both know that I do respect them and admire their scholarship.Wishydighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06141057866370676641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27807460.post-53537862211535393762007-10-18T19:07:00.000-04:002007-10-18T19:07:00.000-04:00Excellent post, Michael. I think it's going to tak...Excellent post, Michael. I think it's going to take a while for us non-academics to catch on that dictionaries are becoming more and more descriptivist. Since kindergarten we'd been told that dictionaries were arbiters of usage, but that's less true nowadays. Personally, I like the trend toward exclusion, but it's tough on writers and editors in the trenches.<BR/><BR/>By the way, I'd noticed your use of "humour" and "colour" and assumed you were Canadian! So yes, I do make judgments--not judgements, 'cause I'm Murrikan--based on spelling.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com