In a 2008 BBC article, academic Ken Smith (an incredibly generic and equally difficult name to google by the way), has suggested that we should accept spelling and grammatical errors as "variant spellings". Smith is a university academic who corrects exam and test papers and year after year is confronted by 'thier', 'arguement' and 'truely'.
I find it depressing that either lacking education or laziness (or both) are permeating so heavily through our society that we would be willing to break the rules of the English launguage. After all, thousands of people run through red lights every year. What would happen if the police suddenly said, 'Look dudes, we've been trying. But they just keep doing it so, I guess we'll allow it'. It would be goddamn chaos you shitty shitty men of the law.
So my argument is, would the majority abide by the rules if those same rules are breached by the minority, and without consequence? I don't think so. Furthermore, how can we improve if we are never corrected? Although criticism can at times be disheartening, it is often the best way to better yourself.
A goddamn fantastic - and hilarious - example of this recently featured on 30 Rock. Main character Liz Lemon snags herself a handsome boyfriend whose lived his whole life in a 'bubble'. He thought he was a tennis god because women begged him to teach them. He thought he could cook fish with Gatorade. He was a doctor that didn't know how to perform the Heimlich manouvre. This ignorant pretty boy led an charmed life because no-one had the guts to criticise the actions, cooking or medical skills of a beautiful person. (The beautiful person in question is Jon Hamm. Yup. Drool factory).
They say ignorance is bliss; but who are 'they'? What if 'they' didn't even know how to spell ignorance? Would we still refer to this age old axiom time and time again if it had been mispelled the first time?
Language in itself is amazing; we just take it for granted because we use it every day. It is a tool that has withstood the test of time, that allows us to understand what other people want or see or feel and allows us to communicate the same to others. The English language is a beautiful and complicated creation. I marvel at the music of phonology and the intricacy of semantics; at silent letters; at the eleven different ways of pronouncing the letter 'a': (“age”, “bad”, “bath”, “about”, “beat”, “many”, “aisle”, “coat”, “ball”, “beauty” and “cauliflower”).
We are the generation coping with - and still contributing to - the loss of the Ozone layer. Many of our endangered animals are currently on the brink of non-extistence. Our civilization has already lost so much of its culture to floods, fires, earthquakes and the wankerish aspects of human nature. Let's preserve the rules of our languages and grammar, and take it one extinction at a time shall we?
I find it depressing that either lacking education or laziness (or both) are permeating so heavily through our society that we would be willing to break the rules of the English launguage. After all, thousands of people run through red lights every year. What would happen if the police suddenly said, 'Look dudes, we've been trying. But they just keep doing it so, I guess we'll allow it'. It would be goddamn chaos you shitty shitty men of the law.
So my argument is, would the majority abide by the rules if those same rules are breached by the minority, and without consequence? I don't think so. Furthermore, how can we improve if we are never corrected? Although criticism can at times be disheartening, it is often the best way to better yourself.
A goddamn fantastic - and hilarious - example of this recently featured on 30 Rock. Main character Liz Lemon snags herself a handsome boyfriend whose lived his whole life in a 'bubble'. He thought he was a tennis god because women begged him to teach them. He thought he could cook fish with Gatorade. He was a doctor that didn't know how to perform the Heimlich manouvre. This ignorant pretty boy led an charmed life because no-one had the guts to criticise the actions, cooking or medical skills of a beautiful person. (The beautiful person in question is Jon Hamm. Yup. Drool factory).
They say ignorance is bliss; but who are 'they'? What if 'they' didn't even know how to spell ignorance? Would we still refer to this age old axiom time and time again if it had been mispelled the first time?
Language in itself is amazing; we just take it for granted because we use it every day. It is a tool that has withstood the test of time, that allows us to understand what other people want or see or feel and allows us to communicate the same to others. The English language is a beautiful and complicated creation. I marvel at the music of phonology and the intricacy of semantics; at silent letters; at the eleven different ways of pronouncing the letter 'a': (“age”, “bad”, “bath”, “about”, “beat”, “many”, “aisle”, “coat”, “ball”, “beauty” and “cauliflower”).
We are the generation coping with - and still contributing to - the loss of the Ozone layer. Many of our endangered animals are currently on the brink of non-extistence. Our civilization has already lost so much of its culture to floods, fires, earthquakes and the wankerish aspects of human nature. Let's preserve the rules of our languages and grammar, and take it one extinction at a time shall we?
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