- Jan 2025
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www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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That’s five writers, across a span of 400 years, all moaning about the same erosion of standards. And yet the period also encompasses some of the greatest works of English literature.
Good shit. Thank you author.
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But the problem is that writers at that time also felt they were speaking a degraded, faltering tongue.
The constant struggle never changes.
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it’s a powerful intuition, but the evidence of its effects has simply never materialised. That is because it is unscientific nonsense.
Yes
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Linguistic decline is the cultural equivalent of the boy who cried wolf, except the wolf never turns up.
Bars on bars
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there is something perplexing about claims like this. By their nature, they imply that we were smarter and more precise in the past.
YES! I'm very glad that the author does not like these claims.
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“Without grammar, we lose the agreed-upon standards about what means what. We lose the ability to communicate when respondents are not actually in the same room speaking to one another. Without grammar, we lose the precision required to be effective and purposeful in writing.”
Language changing is not the problem here. Who says we are losing grammar? Is that proven or just an observation someone had and thought "Yes this is correct?"
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“Some changes would be wholly unacceptable, as they would cause confusion and the language would lose shades of meaning,”
Don't just say "some" tell me what are the changes.
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The Queen’s English Society, a British organisation, has long been fighting to prevent this decline.
Prove a decline.
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“Their language is deteriorating. They are lowering the bar. Our language is flying off at all tangents, without the anchor of a solid foundation.”
Says who? Based on what bar? "Flying of at all tangents?" because people say what "rizz" now. This seems to me like fear mongering and old people yelling at clouds.
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“There is a worrying trend of adults mimicking teen-speak. They are using slang words and ignoring grammar,”
But why is this a problem? This is demonizing different ways of speaking because teens use them. Less formal ways of speaking, doesn't mean anything as long as people are able to communicate effectively. Communication and language is not built on things being good, or correct. The point of advanced of vocab is supposed to be articulating effective not to marginalize and gatekeep academia and fields. Esoteric: Intended for or understood by only a small group, especially one with specialized knowledge or interests: synonym: mysterious
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The doomsayers
Who are the so called "doomsayers"?
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