nothing more annoying than a prescriptivist, cause they entirely miss the point of what language is (self.linguistics)

submitted 8 hours ago by gwl to c/linguistics@mander.xyz

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Language is a toolkit to communicate ideas, and a toolkit frozen in glass is a useless toolkit.

You need to swap out that hammer when it starts getting damaged, or put back a screwdriver when you find out you need it again, or add new tools when you find that the tools you have now aren't fit to purpose.

And sure, there's some loose screws at the bottom of the bag, but they don't harm anything, and very occasionally they come in useful.

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[-] gwl 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

To add more nuance to this intentionally no-nuance take, I think what matters far far far far more than correctness is CONTEXT

You should use different linguistic context when talking to your boss than you do when talking to your mum, than you do when talking to a friend, than you do when talking to a stranger, than you do when writing a format piece of writing, etc etc etc

this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2026

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Linguistics

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