Completely random image...
A recent debate with a contact on Flickr who is a teacher of English (amongst other things); a discussion with a colleague today and a caffeine fuelled rant this afternoon has me wondering...
To be pedantic, or not to be pedantic.
Said Flickr contact includes in his photostream pictures of misused apostrophes.
I (and others) join him in his everso genteel raging against the perpetrators of this crime against the language.
Today there was a workplace epistle that used the word "unanimously" where the words "by a majority" should have been. My colleague says she's been waiting for me to read it and make a comment (yep, I'm really that predictable).
Also, I hear the expression "...even more unique..." used on Radio4. I grumble at the radio.
So I ask the guy on Flickr (being a professional an' all...whereas I'm more of a numbers girl) whether, in fact, if the meaning of the message is successfully transmitted does it really matter if the syntax, spelling and grammar don't quite cut the mustard?
His opinion is cautious...yep communication is important but he qualifies it with
"And yet I think there's a beauty to be found in a well-formed sentence, whether it's one of your own or one that you've read"
I've never met this chap but I think I'd like him...for he encapsulates my thoughts in an elegantly turned phrase.
However, I still can't help but wonder whether the arcane rules of spelling and grammar are the equivalent of Latin Masses and Victorian table manners. Are they a way for the elite few to make themselves feel superior to the ignorant masses?
Meanwhile, I'll sit in my elitist, smugness and thoroughly enjoy language well-used in engaging yet approachable writing...even when it's dialogue on the TV like this.
My personal grammatical gripes are thus;
ReplyDeleteThe habit, prevalent amongst the news reading fraternity no less, to describe something as 'literal' when nothing could be further from the truth.
"John literally exploded with rage."
Really???
And when people needlessly use the adjective 'more' in conjunction with another adjective, as in;
"He's got more friendlier as he's gotten older."
Drives me mad!
@James
ReplyDeleteYes, those also bother me.
I think your Grandmother would be proud of your pendantry...and mine.
I remember when I was about four and asked "where are we going to?" I was gently but firmly told that I should not be ending the sentence with a preposition.
Funny how some things stay with you.
Yeah, and if you asked whether you 'could have' something you were normally informed that you 'could' but whether or not you 'may' would be another matter.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways use of English is incredibly important. I work in science publishing and if someone uses 'accurate' where they mean 'precise' or '10 times more than' when they mean '10 times as much as' then that can be a serious error that misrepresents the outcome of a piece of research or the capability of a new technology.
ReplyDeleteI'm biased because my livelihood depends on it but I really do believe that correct use of English is important. I have nothing against slang or dialect, however, and there are some old grammarian rules that I completely disagree with. I see no problem with beginning a sentence with 'and' or 'but', ending a sentence with a preposition or splitting an infinitive.