English is "diminishing"

[Tom Zurinskas]

English is the international language of aviation.  I wonder if it is also the international language of ships at sea.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at authorhouse.com.




> Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 14:36:58 -0500
> From: laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
> Subject: Re: English is "diminishing"
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Laurence Horn
> Subject: Re: English is "diminishing"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>>Wow, thanks for passing this along.
>>
>>Still, this piece is so poorly argued and violative of the linguistic
>>principles it pretends to defend that I wonder whether it's intended as
>>parody.
>
> No, I think it's a deadly serious but poorly written undergraduate essay.
>
> "The movie "Clueless" is based on Jane Austen's novel "Emma,"
> although students and adults alike fail to regard Austen's prolific
> work as the mother of literary offspring."
>
> Two parts oblivion with a dollop of delusional, stir until completely
> mixed, add in a pinch of hostility,...
>
> What can you say?
>
> LH
>
>>
>>
>>On 2/4/08 10:03 AM, "Andrea Morrow"  wrote:
>>
>>> I teach business communication, and I subscribe to an online headline
>>> news service that supposedly brings me "the top headlines in the
>>> field" (according to the service's copy).
>>>
>>> One of today's headlines was "English Language Still Diminishing in
>>> Quality". As we all know, this has been such a familiar complaint,
>>> it's a wonder English hasn't diminished right out of existence. Turns
>>> out, the headline is from a college newspaper editorial, with such
>>> statements as: "Wave goodbye to the days of extant originality and
>>> herald the proximity of clones thinking similar ideas." Here's the
>>> link:
>>>
>>> http://theapp.appstate.edu/content/view/3060/41/
>>>
>>> I only mention this because it feeds the common (mis)perception that
>>> English is somehow endangered - and it came to me via a supposedly
>>> professional channel that is said to capture the latest ideas.
>>>
>>> Andrea
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

_________________________________________________________________
Helping your favorite cause is as easy as instant messaging. You IM, we give.
http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Home/?source=text_hotmail_join

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org