The Flip Side

It occurs to me that the casual reader of The Laundromat Blog would think me Negative Nancy and a nauseating grammar cop. That’s not really the case, though I do (as seen in my previous post) insist that people who study language professionally take the time to double-check their uses. In public writing, however, I really do feel that language is dynamic. This is not to suggest that flagrant misuses of language should be roundly tolerated, but a little evolution here and there never hurt anyone.

One of my favorite internet peeps, Karen from TrainWrite (who is herself an exceptionally elegant wordsmith), forwarded me this article from The Huffington Post wherein the author explains how and why people misuse the phrase “begs the question.”

Her analysis was interesting to me. Though I knew the term itself was a logical fallacy, I’d never heard the misuse described so well. (as an aside, maybe one day I’ll post on logical fallacies. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, anyone?). At the same time, though I found the article entertaining, I have to admit I didn’t really care. Though I’m not as impassioned on this topic as others (one way or the other), I think I tend to come down on the side of Stephen Fry, who wrote a couple of years ago:

“There is no right language or wrong language any more than are right or wrong clothes.”

 [[Note: This essay can be found online in several places, but the most interesting form is a dynamic typography piece put together by Matt Rogers: ]]

Again, I don’t go quite as far as Fry does, but his essay is worth checking out in its entirety nonetheless. What he claims does make sense to a certain extent. Much like President Obama is considered a great speaker because his language isn’t overly ornate, dressing it up to the point of arrogant misuse (as Triska talks about in her Huff Post article) isn’t necessary. But Fry also advocates language play, because English is such a rich language. Why not experiment? Such experimentation requires the speaker to be flexible, which means that rules can’t be overly rigid.

But there is, I admit, something inside me that wonders: can we chastise the people who write emails in mid-2000s text-speak?

R u @ wrk yet? Is it K if we meet 4 brkfst? Thx!

No thanks. But breakfast sounds great!