[Archangelsk]

Indeed.

[Archangelsk]

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[baltodog]

"What we have lost we will be a long while in getting back."

Wrong. What we have lost will never be found. How sad.

[antiRepublicrat]

Apparently I'm not alone. Good.

[Age of Reason]

Malicious guttersnipes.

[Diogenesis]

He be makin' ebonics seem double-plus-ungood.

[jigsaw]

Well, Fred, these days it all depends on what the meaning of is is.

[Consort]

But how in Ebonics does one say, “The entropy of a closed system tends to remain the same or to increase”?

Ebonics:
The entropy o' uh closed system tends ta remain da same or ta increase what 'chew trippin foo'

Jive:
Da entropy o' some closed system tends t' remain da same o' t'incraise.

[centurion316]

I cannot agree more. Where is Gwendolyn Ritchie (Columbus HS, English, circa 1963) when we really need her? The art and practice of the language are fading away before our very eyes. How will the generations yet born be able to communicate in some meaningful way?

Faint hope remains, however, on this forum. I recently misused the word "misogyny" when I meant to use "miscengenation". The lateness of the hour, the effects of copious amounts of Jack Daniels, and my reliance on Microsoft's Spellchecker were my only excuses -- they were flimsy defense. But, I was quickly and firmly set straight by fellow freepers. Light the torch and hold it high. Welcome those who choose to come close to the light, and share the knowledge. We shall prevail.

[Professional Engineer]

ping

[Wonder Warthog]

"Indeed."

Yea, verily, and forsooth!!!

[Ophiucus]

The author omitted the their, there, and they're confusion. That misuse drives me abso-freaking-lutely nuts.

[BeerSwillr]

I dunno, I think ol' Fred's kinda good with them thar words an' all that kinda stuff.

[Billthedrill]

Beautiful essay, rather better than Fred has been wont to produce of late. Good writing requires a decent vocabulary, built slowly by reading the works of better writers, which is one reason Fred might ask "Are there real writers out there under fifty?" Of course there are, but they are rather rare. They seem to occur most often in poetry - Shelley and Rimbaud come to mind as examples of very young poets who displayed an artistry with language that they developed with astonishing rapidity in their tragically short span of years.

But essayists, now they're another matter. Montaigne, the master and progenitor of them all, did not flower until quite late in life. This, I think, may be a consequence of the clarity of thought born of long practice and the fund of life's experience that the really good essayist brings to bear on his subject, which are the fruits of maturity.

But I don't think the appreciation of writing as a high art has diminished any more than the appreciation of painting or sculpture; it was, as Fred suggests, always the characteristic of a self-selecting elite rather than a self-proclaimed and undeserving one (that, parenthetically, has given the odor to the term "elite" that it currently quite rightfully carries), and it is a taste that must be cultivated. It may be that an age of instant gratification such as the television offers tends to obscure the existence of the more patient appreciations, but kill them off altogether? Never! Why else would anyone write this sort of composition? Why would anyone think it worth offering to an audience of readers, and why would anyone think it worthy of comment?

I don't always - well, often - agree with Mr. Reed, but he can certainly craft a well-turned phrase. Thanks for posting!

[FreepLady]

As an English major, reading the above makes me sad. Fred is saying what I have thought for years.

[nopardons]

What a sad and wonderful article.

And there is NO such word as " ANYWAYS "; it does NOT exist, no mater how many times FREEPERs type it. :-(

[Doctor Stochastic]

Too many passives. Doesn't the writer know that "The bridge is being built," is improper (circa 1700) and "The bridge is building," is correct?

[SouthernClaire]

One fine writing. However, it does discount the fact that not all are given the opportunity to secure a fine edumacation.

I agreed up to the PORTION that seemed to convey that those of a certain status need not apply and need not try. "We fill the universities with people who have no business being there." (Words exist for what I really want to use here .... but, no, good judjeeement prevails.)

Not all are ignorant by choice. Rather, circumstance has left some of usn's in positions we'd, given the choice, not be. Takes no genius to figure that one.

Proper is great. However, it's not topping my list tonight. I have work to do in order to pay to send my child to ... what? A university to teach her how UNwell-spoken I beeze. Great.

In the end, the entire article is garbage. It places no burden on intelligence, but all on chance. It’s an insult to every hardworking man or woman who's not had the same opportunities (or plain luck) as others and who must work to a physical exhaustion that those so fortunate enough to know where properly to place a semi-colon may never know.

“Chance,” it’s called. It’s that thing that happens when I child is born and looks up for the first time and asks:

“Whom did I get?”

[Dog Gone]

While there is much truth to this, language does evolve and anyone who fights this will likely be speaking Chaucer's English a thousand years from now, and be just as hard to understand.

[Nick Danger]

It just wouldn't be Free Republic if somebody didn't catch the grammar cop making a mistake.

you cannot tell good jitterbugging from bad if you do not know the structure of the dance, so you cannot tell good writing from bad if you don’t know the language works.

There. I feel much gooder now.

[Paulus Invictus]

Hey dude, like, you know, like, wats wrong with English? All you need to do is listen to young people struggle to make themselves understood with their limited grasp of the language. It's sad, but English is declining fast.

[scab4faa]

Why English is hard to learn
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

[Inyo-Mono]

As the father of two teenagers I know all to well how true this article is.

[Nebullis]

Have no fear. Microsoft spell check and grammar editors will keep the English language safe from degradation by the upper classes.

[sergeantdave]

And the misuse of effect vs affect. Add, too, the redundant "At this point in time."

[cyborg]

In an America that has embraced the tastes and standards of the black ghetto, I occasionally see it written that Ebonics is a language to be respected as much as English.

** Blame everything on the black ghetto. My gradeschool english teacher was a white woman from Long Island who insisted that 'the' was pronounced 'thuh' and not 'thee' the way my mother taught me. Before there was ebonics, people were butchering the english language.

[MattAMiller]

Language changes. There's no sense in trying to stop it.

[gcruse]

continuous [doesn't mean] continual

I wouldn't blame the writers, necessarily.  This is from  Your Dictionary.com.

con·tin·u·ous
(click to hear the word) (kn-tny-s)
adj.

1. Uninterrupted in time, sequence, substance, or extent. See Synonyms at continual.