[ExI] Kripke is in trouble!

[Harvey Newstrom]

Gordon wrote on Wednesday, May 08, 2013 2:24 PM,
> Some of us are prescriptivists, believing that English should follow
certain rules. Others of us are descriptivists, believing that English
should be whatever is common usage. Most of us are somewhere in between,
depending on the issue at hand. 

 

I believe that language needs to evolve and change with usage.  Otherwise,
Shakespearean wouldst yet be bespoken anon.

 

But when I say "usage", I of course mean *my* usage.  If I don't know about
some obscure word usage parameters, then I tend to interpret them as being
nitpicky and pedantic.  And while I concede that "pedantic" may be correct,
it is the most annoying kind of correct!

 

On the other hand, where I happen to use words correctly, I expect other
people to use the same words correctly.  It seems ludicrous for me to have
to relearn a word usage that I have been using correctly, just because most
people use the same word incorrectly.  Otherwise, I would have to say that
my head would "literally" explode, even though I know that it wouldn't.

 

On the other other hand, it seems dishonest to stubbornly use a word
"correctly" while simultaneously knowing that 99% of your audience will
misinterpret what you are saying.  That seems to be deliberately sabotaging
the conversation towards some goal other than successful communication.

 

So there is no good answer I can see.  All communications will soon be
impossible.  Death of the Internet is predicted.  Grammarggedon is upon us!

--
Harvey Newstrom <www.HarveyNewstrom.com>
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CISA CISM CRISC CGEIT IAM

 

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