Even today — subjected as we are to the apotheosis of popular culture — using the English language respectfully helps us maintain a sense of ourselves and our values. To do otherwise, to disregard the ways of our words, is to forsake our humanity and, perhaps, even forfeit our future. A society is generally as lax as its language. And in a society of this sort, easiness and mediocrity are much esteemed.
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Grumbling About Grammar
Although few people can complain of another's grammatical mistakes with impunity, that is, without revealing their own, I am hopeful that "Grumbling About Grammar" will encourage us all to pay more heed to how the language is used — by ourselves as well as by others — while bettering our ability to speak and write it. The grammatical errors that I have assembled here come from publications like The New York Times, Wired, TV Guide, and Martha Stewart Living. Others come from websites like Salon.com and Winmag.com. And still others from TV newscasters, politicians, and businesspeople. These are the people we so often read and listen to — whether or not we care to. Woefully, it is not Edith Wharton or Henry James from whom we learn to speak and write the language; rather, it is these sometime purveyors of confused, misused, and abused language.
1. I found this solecism in the first issue of the estimable Talk
magazine:
The reason I know this is because this new class has adopted one
of the primary emblems of a high place on the social ladder:
inaccessibility. DELETE The reason is.
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Scarcely Used Words
Inadequate though they may be, words distinguish us from all other living things. Indeed, our worth is partly in our words. Effective use of language — clear writing and speaking — is a measure of our humanness. What's more, the more words we know and can correctly use, the broader will be our understanding of self, the keener our acquaintance with humankind.
1. afflatus (uh-FLA-tes) n. a creative impulse; an inspiration.
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The Vocabula Review is a free journal about the state of the English language. We invite you to submit articles. Perhaps you'd like to rail about how shoddily the English language is so often used, for instance. Or if you have a more descriptive approach to language, perhaps you'd like to present your case. What's more, we are interested in publishing new poetry — so long as it is no longer than fifty lines and observes some of the strictures of scansion and musicality.
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