|
I heard a TV talk show host, judging a dance competition, tell the dancer that she loved it when “he spinned his partner on the floor.” The famous ex-quarterback, Tony Romo, now CBS TV’s star game commentator, constantly says things like, “He should have ran in the other direction.” TV field reporters constantly refer to the two anchors as “you guys” even when one or both are female.
Someone commented the other day on social media that language evolves and we shouldn’t expect adherence to old configurations. I would agree, insofar as we don’t usually say “fortnight” in the US, and we’ve stopped using “gay” in its original sense, and we’ve abandoned pejorative words like “retarded.”
However, I don’t think that opens the door to whatever the latest slang and jargon happen to be. Language can devolve as readily as evolve, and the difference for me is a loss of clarity, of elegance, of nuance, and of impact. And this isn’t just about shoddy grammar, it’s about affectation, as well. Some “authorities” are supporting “between you and I” as proper grammar, despite the fact that “between” is a preposition requiring the objective (me) and not the nominative (I). The improper use here is merely an affectation because some people think it positions them as being more eloquent, when it actually points out their ignorance of proper grammar.
There are, of course, true options. The word “niche” is equally correct as “nich” or “neesh.” You might say “eye-ther” but I do say “ee-ther.” (And there are people who say, “It’s ‘eye-ther’ you or me,” thus being both correct and incorrect in the same sentence!)
Language can’t be like our current immigration policy, which is, in effect, open borders. We need to control the words that properly enter the language and eschew the improper. Otherwise, it’s going to be harder and harder to communicate. If you’re not a New Yorker you might be totally confused, for example, by “djeet”? (Did you eat?)
We should be adept at handling all the words that fall into the eight parts of speech. You don’t know what the eight parts are? Send me a dollar and I’ll tell you.
|
