Steven Pinker reveals his thoughts on grammar in academia in the article, "Grammar Puss." Throughout the article, Pinker gives examples of how grammar is misused in the midst of all the unexplained rules we try to follow in SWE. On page 12 of Pinker's article, he makes two comments that stand out, seeing that he is writing an article about grammar, "Many prescriptive rules are just plain dumb and should be deleted from the usage handbooks" and "As for slang, I'm all for it! I don't know how I ever did without [to flame] (protest self-righteously), [to dis] (express disrespect for), and [to blow off] (dismiss an obligation), and there are thousands of now-unexceptionable English words like [clever], [fun], [sham], [banter], [mob], and [stingy] that began life as slang."
Not only do I agree with Pinker, but I am glad to see an article from academia that criticizes those who are stuck in the rules of grammar. I believe in order to stay current with grammar, we must be able to evolve with the language around us.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
I think we should be able to flow with the language around us. I just had a splendid thought! Have you ever seen the mythbusters episode where they mix something like corn starch with water in an attempt to "walk on water"? That substance is solid in surface area upon first impact, but is liquid otherwise.
We could see the English language as something like that. It is both solid and liquid. It changes when it needs to, but it stays the same at its core.
you are all full of ideas brandon. i like the idea of language changing as well, but i highly doubt that mulroy actually uses all of these slang terms. i would want to be there if he did.
Yeah,I agree with Katie Beth. Thats an interesting thought Brandon. I dont really have much more to say...Nice post. Nice thought. Nice comments. Nice.
Great idea, Brandon. It's nice to see you connect grammar to the "outside world."
Evolution created us so it seem s inevitable in our everyday lives, right? I may be confused. I have to be honest, I sucked in science.
Man, I feel you. But, in all fairness, we got to have some set of criteria or there's anarchy in the air. Wouldn't you agree?
Yay, Adam! I hate the idea that grammar is something people use to judge me. Why not use words like y'all and ain't when there isn't a good reason not to?
Jon- I agree, we should evolve with the language. Nice connection.
Tommy- We conform to the rules of grammar without knowing it. Just like we talked about in class; we have a good understanding of the rules, even though we can't tell exactly what rule it is. So, in all fairness, if anarchy was going to be in the air, we would already smell it.
Rachel- There ain't no good reason to not use ya'll if you want to.
I liked this blog. I didn't feel like I was reading another make or model. Thank you for that. I could read your personality, instead of just your opinions.
As far as the content of your blog, I agree with Pinker as well in this aspect.
(To save time and space...)
In response to your comment on my blog, I do feel that language doesn't have to be verbally spoken to be communicated. Aware people can pick up on subtleties within the human form that convey language through physical movement or elemental contents of a situation. Aware people. I know a lot of unaware people. So it's good to have the verbal leveling structure to fall back on, if only for the salvation of all our sanities.
Michaela- Thanks for responding back. I enjoyed you blog. It made me think about how important it is to communicate, but I also agree that there are other ways to express deep emotions besides language.
Thanks
Post a Comment