do away with "dialect"

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

Rudy makes an important point here--shouldn't we also start talking about
"good" and "bad" English (or at least "acceptable" and "unacceptable"), since
that, too, is what the public still believes in despite 50 years (or more) of
linguists' lecturing them on their ignorance!


In a message dated 2/9/2000 4:38:15 AM, rtroike at U.ARIZONA.EDU writes:

<< And incidentally, I repeat Raven McDavid's effort to eliminate
"dialect" from the public discussion of linguists trying to communicate
with the public, and to replace it everywhere possible with "variety" and
derivatives. We've quit talking about "substandard"; we should do the same
with "dialect". Much of the difficulty linguists have in communicating
with the public comes from our insistence that the ordinary meaning of the
word should be given up by everyone else, and our "neutral technical"
meaning adopted. 50 years and more of fruitless efforts should convince us
to stop needlessly making enemies.  >>