There are many Englishes, and each of its dialects is valid for communication among its users.
Standard written English is not the One True English; it is a dialect that is useful in some, but not all, contexts.
Language snobbery is not more noble than other forms of snobbery. When someone writing about grammar and usage begins to use terms like “illiterate,” “hoi polloi,” “the masses,” just stop reading.
It is not your fault that you were taught bogus rules of usage. You can unlearn them.
Use or do not use the Oxford comma, as your taste or house style determines. And don’t make a fuss about it.
To determine a point of standard usage, consult Bryan Garner’s Garner’s Modern English Usage (fifth edition), Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage (edited by Jeremy Butterfield), and Benjamin Dreyer’s Dreyer’s English. Preferably all four. When they don’t agree, you get to make up your own mind.
Five books that can enlarge your sense of the language:
Robert Lane Greene, You Are What You Speak
Henry Hitchings, The Secret Life of Words
Gretchen McCulloch, Because Internet
Jack Lynch, The Lexicographer’s Dilemma
David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe a Word
Language is the most democratic thing we have. You get one vote.
Well said, sir.
ReplyDelete"Standard written English is not the One True English; it is a dialect that is useful in some, but not all, contexts." Consequently you're redefining "dialect" and "Standard English". Standard English is not peculiar to a specific region; it is generally considered the most correct and acceptable form. The language that you speak, the language with those bogus rules that provided you a profession, but that you sanctimoniously deprecate. A dialect is "A form or variety of a language which is peculiar to a specific region, esp. one which differs from the standard or literary form of the language in respect of vocabulary, pronunciation, idiom, etc.; (as a mass noun) provincial or rustic speech. Also more generally: a particular language considered in terms of its relationship with the family of languages to which it belongs." OED
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