Rhino wrote:
I think I see the confusion. I am not talking about correcting others. I do so rarely, and usually either in jest, self-parody, or an attempt to embarrass someone who has already done so in all seriousness but in error. My concern, such as it is, is that I want myself and others to be able to speak, or more likely write, as correctly as we are able without someone "correcting" us with sloppy vernacular or abusing us for avoiding it. Words are entertaining, fun, even beautiful at times. They are far less likely to be so when poorly used and chosen from a tiny pool of options. Joyce pulled it off, as did O'Brien in a different style. But since few have such epochal genius, least of all me, I simply prefer the language use of Nabokov to that of NaS.
Agreed down to "NaS", but I have no idea what that means. NAS is National Audubon Society or National Academy of Sciences, but their language use is not that much worse than Nabokov's.
As someone who rarely gets to read this far down in the forum, I just came across this thread, and found it fascinating. I agree with most of what Dante and Rhino say - they show a good command of English for an Italian and a pachyderm - but agreeing on everything would make the thread boring.
I often cringe at what I read on-line, even in this forum, and sometimes in my own postings, but, for the reasons given, usually do not offer corrections. However, since, as Cloudy suggested, it requires a fair amount of temerity to post on this thread, and those doing so likely take care with their wording, and re-read before posting, perhaps we should correct each other's just for fun. For example, did these sentences bother anyone but me?
" Language inevitably evolves, just like animals. But just like in animals, the evolution of language goes down some wacky dead ends along the way." The conjunction at the beginning of the second sentence does not bother me, but I stumbled on the second 'like'. Although there is an ellipsis there, that seemed to me to require an 'as'. And then there was "subjunctive case" ...
Perhaps a more productive line for the thread would be to identify some of our pet peeves in language use. While I recognize that languages evolve, and do not suggest going back to the pure English that Anon gave us a sample of, it seems to me that current lexicographers are far too hasty in considering widely used errors in spelling or usage as acceptable. An example is the one mentioned, "biweekly" versus "semi-weekly". When I was young (shortly after the time of the saber-toothed tigers) these terms were completely distinct, and the only question was whether to use a hyphen or not. Similarly, the (mis)spelling and pronunciation 'homogenous' for 'homogeneous" now seems to be accepted.
A pet peeve for me is the use of 'less' for 'fewer' which seems to be more and more frequent these days. It is especially annoying at those check-out counters with the "9 items or less" signs!
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