Re: linguistic abuse (was "Loop approach")

["Steve Lawson" <steve@steve-lawson.co.uk>]

One of the things that fascinates me about all this language stuff is the
morphing organic quality to it, and how arbitrarily we apply out concepts 
of
what needs to stay and what can be morphed, seemingly define by
fashion...those of us here who complain about linguistic abuse still all 
use
f-ed up versions of the language, or at the very least, geographically
specific modifications... :o)

the other wild-card in all this is the net, and the egalitarianism of the
net, where people with terrible grammar and spelling can get a very high
profile as writers, be they contributors to discussion lists or on line 
news
writers. As such, mistakes get perpetrated, and spoken english starts to be
influenced by common typing mistakes! :o)

The other thing to factor in with the net is how many people contribute for
whom english is a second language. I think the world is a poorer place due
to the tyranny of english on the net - it makes those of us who do speak it
as a first language lazy, and can lead to ludicrous bouts of prejudice (I
saw one ego-maniac hosting a bass discussion page ball someone out saying
'come back when you're learned to type in english, BUDDY' - mmm, that was
friendly.

...and on the theme of malapropisms, the only interesting thing about Big
Brother III, currently on in the UK, is that one of the contestants is 
thick
as pig-shit and keeps coming out with some of the most remarkable faux-pas
and malapropisms ever seen on a TV screen... :o)

big love

Steve
www.steve-lawson.co.uk