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Dear Jiscmailers,
I must admit that I used to grimace at the incorrect use of
punctuation(although I am by no means entirely proficient in its usage
myself!) and especially the increased use of slang in magazines and
newspapers. I used to think the language used in texting was a horrible
perversion of the English language.
However, about a month ago I came across a podcast by Stephen Fry who spoke
about this very subject. At the risk of sounding like I am all too easily
influenced, I must confess that my opinion was completely reversed after
listening to this podcast. Mr Fry persuaded me that breaking the rules of
grammar and 'verbal deployment' was wonderful and a natural feature of an
evolving language.
I quote from his podcast:
"Let there be textural delight, let there be silken words and flinty words
and sodden speeches and soaking speeches and crackling utterance and
utterance that quivers and wobbles like rennet. Let there be rapid
firecracker phrases and language that oozes like a lake of lava. Words are
your birthright. Unlike music, painting, dance and raffia work, you don’t
have to be taught any part of language or buy any equipment to use it, all
the power of it was in you from the moment the head of daddy’s little
wiggler fused with the wall of mummy’s little bubble. So if you’ve got it,
use it. Don’t be afraid of it, don’t believe it belongs to anyone else,
don’t let anyone bully you into believing that there are rules and secrets
of grammar and verbal deployment that you are not privy to."
Fantastic!
Here is the link to the full transcript of the podcast if anyone is
interested.
<http://www.stephenfry.com/blog/page/2/#more-64>
Or you could listen to the podcast through iTunes.
Adam Harwood
University of Sussex and Former staff member of MO.
--On 04 February 2009 22:27 +1100 Megan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
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>
> As a retired secondary school teacher of English I can attest that the
> average adolescent is not much interested in punctuation and correct
> grammar, in fact it has been my experience that a fair few cannot
> understand why they are taught English at all. Maybe this is an outcome
> of universal education.
>
> When teaching middle school English my students wrote weekly journals
> which I would read and comment on but never correct in an attempt to
> encourage expression. I realise that many would be horrified at this but
> it did produce spontaneous expression which was sometimes incredibly
> boring, as in the description of a football game, but none the less
> served its purpose.
>
> I know that using email I do not worry about correct usage as I would in
> something for publication, and when texting I resort to telegam style
> (the young would not know what that is but would immediately decipher
> it). Dorothy is right about the changing nature of language and while we
> remain pedants we cannot force our views on others. I would hate to
> return to the practice of my mother who, when I was a child, insisted
> that I write a draft letter which she would correct and which I then had
> to copy out. Naturally I wrote as few letters as possible.
>
> We all feel smug when we see an error in punctuation or grammar and
> perhaps that's not a bad thing if it makes us feel that we have achieved
> a sophistication that others haven't.
>
> While you freeze in the UK and I fry in Melbourne this debate (although
> onesided) is a welcome distraction.
>
> Megan Peniston-Bird
> Melbourne
> Victoria
> Australia
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dorothy Sheridan"
> <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 9:48 PM
> Subject: Re: [MASSOBS] The demise of the apostropohe and other horrors
>
>
>> This message has been sent through the MASSOBS discussion list.
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>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Dear Mass Observers and researchers interested in MO,
>>
>> I suspect you are reaching a dangerous consensus on the apostrophe here
>> so i am going to intervene in the debate. After all, it's good to have
>> different points of view and I like to play devil's advocate.
>>
>> Although I am a keen user of the correctly placed apostrophe myself and
>> chortled all the way through Lynn Truss's excellent book EAT SHOOTS AND
>> LEAVES (not to mention enjoying the missplaced ubiquitous "grocer's
>> apostrophe"), I wouldn't want to get too smug and self righteous about
>> it.
>>
>> One of the things about Mass Observation is that we hope that all kinds
>> of people will correspond with us so that their writing - their thoughts
>> and experiences - are recorded for the future. If we (as an Archive)
>> are too prescriptive about grammar and punctuation we may lose some of
>> our most interesting and creative writers. There are many people who
>> have never been taught grammar and for whom getting the apostrophe in
>> the right place is not a high priority in the lives for all sorts of
>> reasons. Nevertheless they chose to contribute excellent reports to MO.
>> I don't want to increase their lack of confidence in their writing by
>> implying that we don't value what they send us. Writing beautifully and
>> grammatically correctly is a skill which can be learned. But (and I DO
>> sometimes begin my sentences with a "BUT" for emphasis) writing
>> creatively is much rarer. Finding the motivation to contribute to MO
>> when you are unsure about your writing might be difficult. We want to
>> encourage all kinds of people to take part.
>>
>> The other issue for us as social historians and recorders of language is
>> monitoring change in the way we write and speak. Our language is
>> extraordinary, flexible, constantly changing - and it would be good if
>> future historians could chart the change through this Archive, including
>> of course this debate itself. (We shall be preserving it as part of the
>> Archive!)
>> Dorothy
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> Professor Dorothy Sheridan
>> Development Director
>> Mass Observation Archive (Library Special Collections)
>> University of Sussex
>> Brighton BN1 9QL
>> UK
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> T: 01273 877911 (Tues & Thurs usually)
>> or contact Jessica Scantlebury: 01273 678157
>>
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