blame (was: Prescriptivism and the cinema)

[Wilson Gray]

arnold, I'm afraid that I simply don't care. As for looking something
up in MWDEU, that might matter, if that work was constituted of fact
and not merely of other people's opinions.

But it provides evidence for these opinions that can be examined by
others, evidence more reliable than some supposed "memory" available
only to the person claiming to have it.

OTOH, what is "evidence" under these circumstances beyond someone's
random decision to write X instead of Y, just as I randomly decide to
write "children, chilrun, chirren, chirn, chirrin, childun, chiddrun,
chillin, chillen, chillun, chiddren, chiddrin," or whatever.

It reminds me of the time that some Jehovah's Witnesses were stunned
to discover that I knew much more about the Spanish Inquisition than
they, yet remained totally loyal to The One True Faith. Have I
renounced my citizenship because I've discovered that I was born in
one former slave-state, reared in another, remember quite clearly the
strictures of Jim Crow, and still know it when I see it, even though
it's no loger de jure?

Who knows but what some future researcher might not pore over the
archives and conclude that

"Here we have written evidence from a native speaker that, in the
speech of individuals of known, admitted, claimed, or supected
sub-Saharan African descent of whatever degree, dwelling in East
Texas, the word _children_ enjoyed a variety of pronunciations, even
when one restricts oneself to evidence bearing upon only the speech of
those in and around a single geograpical location, 904 West Alvin
Street, in the so-called 'New Town' neighborhood of the town of
Marshall."

OTOH, said researcher might conclude merely that the English version
of the Roman alphabet provides a wide variety of ways in which to
write the seim sownd(z).

Youneverknow.

Anyway, this whole thing goes far beyond the scope of an anecdote
claiming to illustrate only that a mnemonic actually worked, but only
because of random prior knowledge. IME, a mnemonic is no easier to use
than brute memorization. How is memorizing, e.g. "Every Good Boy Does
Fine" easier than simply memorizing "E G B D F"?

If the blame-is-not-a-verb "rule" had been attached to a mnemonic that
was completely unfamiliar to me at the relevant moment, would I
remember it today? No, because it was mentioned only in passing and
never brought up again. OTOH, the "rule," _each other_ with two,
otherwise, _one another_" was actually *taught*, without the aid of
any mnemonic. Not adhering to this "rule" in composition and in exams
lowered one's grades.

But, other than that I was first taught this "rule" in grade school
and had that teaching reinforced in high school, I have no memory of
learning it, any more than I have a memory of learning my name.

-Wilson

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