Posted on 09/27/2010 3:36:14 AM PDT by Daffynition
The English language, which arose from humble Anglo-Saxon roots to become the lingua franca of 600 million people worldwide and the dominant lexicon of international discourse, is dead. It succumbed last month at the age of 1,617 after a long illness. It is survived by an ignominiously diminished form of itself.
The end came quietly on Aug. 21 on the letters page of The Washington Post. A reader castigated the newspaper for having written that Sasha Obama was the "youngest" daughter of the president and first lady, rather than their "younger" daughter. In so doing, however, the letter writer called the first couple the "Obama's." This, too, was published, constituting an illiterate proofreading of an illiterate criticism of an illiteracy. Moments later, already severely weakened, English died of shame.
The language's demise took few by surprise. Signs of its failing health had been evident for some time on the pages of America's daily newspapers, the flexible yet linguistically authoritative forums through which the day-to-day state of the language has traditionally been measured. Beset by the need to cut costs, and influenced by decreased public attention to grammar, punctuation and syntax in an era of unedited blogs and abbreviated instant communication, newspaper publishers have been cutting back on the use of copy editing, sometimes eliminating it entirely.
In the past year alone, as the language lay imperiled, the ironically clueless misspelling "pronounciation" has been seen in the Boston Globe, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Deseret Morning News, Washington Jewish Week and the Contra Costa (Calif.) Times, where it appeared in a correction that apologized for a previous mispronunciation.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
More blather about how every language on the planet is better than English, and what a darn inexplicable shame it is that everybody on the planet seems to be learining English...
I don’t even need to read it. I already know that everybody else is better than us. The MSM tells me this, every day.
Use of good for well. The poor adverb died years ago.
This all assumes that Barack Obama does not have any "side kids"...
Anyone see the Dolphins game last night? They had a big logo on the field...Futbol Americano! Sick. I no longer like them. They even had ugly Orange uniforms. Futbol Americano? Forget about it.
It’s not so much a celebration of other languages as a lament that our public schools have turned out two generations who do not properly use their own.
Or that those are really his. I suspect Barky Obama is a straight homo.
Professor Henry Higgins c. 1910 : “Why in America, they haven’t spoken it for years.”
Doesn’t the author know that using proper English is at least elitist and most likely racist?
2) Get over it... being the most descriptive LANGUAGE in the world... it will remain the International Language.
3) Foreigners pay to learn slang English.
LLS
As the Western world dies, so does her language.
A well written observation. The terminal disease is even more apparent in UK publications.
Take a peek (peak, pique) at the articles in this UK publication.
http://www.northnorfolknews.co.uk/news/news
Pioneering project tackles trio of problems
A desperate shortage of affordable homes, jobless youngsters drifting through life without skills, and the need to find sustainable ways of living – a Norfolk charity is tackling this trio of major problems head-on with a pioneering project.
ML/NJ
ur prolly rite
This article is incoherent.
The language is not ‘dead’ because of a lot of carelessness.
There is no rational connection between the author’s examples and whether the English language remains alive or dead.
Yes, there are millions of slovenly users of the language, including professional writers and editors who should know better.
Nothing in the article suggests that the language is dead or dying.
Ping! =o)
Do you read the comics/funnies section of the newspaper? One of reasons I enjoy reading the comics is because the authors’ English is always correct! Never an “it’s” instead of an “its” (for possessive) or having the PLURAL of dogs be “dog’s”! SOMEBODY must be proofreading!
Thanks for sharing!
LLS
“using proper English is at least elitist and most likely racist?”
********
Dayum bro, you ain’t gonna tap dat isht?
;-(
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.