• corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
      108·
      15 hours ago

      Remember that, unlike French and its steering organization, English is a “usage dictates form” kind of setup where the most popular usage drags the language down after it.

      That’s why people pluralize mass nouns and say things like “emails” as a noun, or join words to get “startup” as a verb, or say “literally” as if they know no other adverbs: someone popular said it like that and everyone is cloning that dialect glitch. They’re making “fetch” happen.

      So let’s all do the needful, action that ask and synergize the spend.

      Or we say no. We ridicule the people yammering like misfit kids of drunkard used-car salesmen, and we correct them, and we only address the content when the errors are fixed. Set the bar for discourse.

      • LwL@lemmy.world
        1·
        7 minutes ago

        So, english works like language has always worked, and french has lost the plot.

        That said, complaining and refusing to use it yourself when people use language in a way that you think makes no sense is also part of that process. Feeling superior because of that is just ridiculous though.

      • jackr@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        3·
        2 hours ago

        You want to become like the French? I don’t know who hurt you, but you are not alone, remember that. You can get help for this.

      • BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee
        131·
        14 hours ago

        Language is fake and there are no rules. So long as it doesn’t actively impede the ability for people to be understood, there is no need to “correct” language. (Even then, maybe you could just ask for clarification instead of being a self righteous prick about it) You sound like that teacher who would condescendingly ask “I don’t know can you use the restroom???” when you would ask “can I use the bathroom?” instead of “may I use the restroom?” Nobody likes that teacher. And, because I’m a leftist on the internet, I need to point out that refusing to address someone until they “spoke right” is some Jim Crow era shit that can and has been used to enforce bigotry of all sorts. Pull the English 101 book out of your anus

        • Gustephan@lemmy.world
          91·
          14 hours ago

          But barrel, how am I supposed to baselessly feel superior to the people around me if I’m not enforcing arbitrary language rules despite knowing full well what people mean when they talk about there new haircut or or use new words like startup? I don’t care about effective communication, I care about an artificial hierarchy that I can place myself near the top of.

          (/s)