"mere mistakes"

[Pafra & Scott Catledge]

I do not believe that it is polite or correct to attribute our obscenities
to the French.
----- Original Message -----
From: Alexey I. Fuchs <c0654038 at TECHST02.TECHNION.AC.IL>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 1999 7:58 AM
Subject: Re: "mere mistakes"


> At least, no more akstericks in the fuckin'-word during this discussion
> here. Seems to me hypocrisy. They dont use no asktericks in Webster, I saw
> it there.
>
> Pardon my French.
>
>                                                         Alexey
>
>
> On Wed, 6 Oct 1999, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>
> > I'm not sure how to deal with this diatribe against language legislation
by
> > expert bodies (which is generally universally ignored as quaint
bullshit)
> > which goes on to apply pet-peeve legislation at the individual level.
> >
> > Of course the history of every language is more than a little firmly
rooted
> > in "mere mistakes." Since I am a native speaker of "I like to fuckin'
> > died," I was intrigued by the transportation of the "infinitive marker"
> > (which it isn't) from "like to" to "about" in the expression. Those who
are
> > not intrigued by "mistakes" like these (and the underlying grammar which
> > licenses them) are missing out on all the fun (not to mention the
science).
> >
> > This does not mean, of course, that us linguists do not have ordinary
> > feelings which reflect our own life experiences, and these little
> > prejudices are fun to read. I jot them down in the interest of language
> > attitude and folk linguistic research all the time.
> >
> > dInIs
> >
> >
> >  >> Isn't anyone bothered by "exetera"?
> > >>
> > >
> > >I guess it becomes a puristic argument similar to a meeting of
anonymous
> > >alcoholics. People who are fond of the language are always bothered
when
> > >other people talk incorrectly. But we are helpless, for if you hear
> > >"exetera" around, it will be "exetera" and not the old good Latin "et
> > >cetera." When I was younger, I was furious about "kofe" (russian
"coffee")
> > >being colloquially used in neutrum. It has to be masculine, I knew it,
I
> > >heard it in my family, I read it in books. A couple of years ago a
> > >freaking "language academy" introduced a new "law," allowing (sic!)
people
> > >to regard "kofe" as neutrum. Those for whom language was merely means
of
> > >communication were celebrating - they did not have to fight themselves
> > >anymore. What academy can introduce laws for language which is a form
of
> > >existence and a living body (at least, for me)?
> > >A couple of further examples. The german-whatever-academy for a long
time
> > >now tries to get rid of es-zet, a gothic letter sounding like "ss" in
> > >English. They also try to eliminate "ph" in Greek words and substitute
> > >simple "f" for it. It is normal, it is orthography, nothing more,
nothing
> > >less, but why does it have to be artificial?
> > >A construct "I about to fucking died" appeared recently on the list. It
> > >does not have to be studied (maybe, just noted). It has to be
eliminated.
> > >A person using such a construct does not suggest an interesting usage
of
> > >grammatical and lexical units, he is merely mistaken. For me, it is
> > >disgusting (though I do not possess exemplary knowledge of the English
> > >language myself).
> > >On the other hand, one can do nothing about that. I can bring more
> > >examples from Hebrew with its poor lexicon heading to the huge gap
which
> > >already exists in Arabic between the spoken language and the
literature,
> > >but the efforts to stops this process are probably vain. The language
will
> > >"develop." For me, a consolation is that the good old language does not
> > >die. It may not be spoken, but it is in the books.
> > >I vainly hope that the "language academies" will rather die while
standing
> > >than live on their knees, "legalizing" "I about to fucking died"
instead
> > >of supporting propoer language education. This may decelerate the
process
> > >of language degeneration and stimulated deterioration.
> > >
> > >Of course, "exetera" bothers me.
> > >
> > >                                                        A.Fuchs
> > >
> > >P.S. "Don't afraid. Everybody must dead." is my favourite movie
quotation.
> >
> > Dennis R. Preston
> > Professor of Linguistics
> > Department of Linguistics and Languages
> > Michigan State University
> > East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
> > preston at pilot.msu.edu
> > Office: (517)353-0740
> > Fax: (517)432-2736
> >