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submitted 6 hours ago by gwl to c/linguistics@mander.xyz

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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[-] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 8 points 5 hours ago

I think there are two different sorts of “prescriptivism” that need to be distinguished.

One is based on the idea that every language has a single ideal form that must be elucidated by experts and imposed on the rest of the language community. This was never a real part of linguistics—it’s a popular misconception from people imagining that linguistics is an extrapolation of grade-school grammar.

But the other form of “prescriptivism” is just fluent speakers correcting people acquiring the language when they perceive a mistake—this is a natural function that occurs in all language communities, starting with parents teaching their children. And it’s a necessary function: learning is orders of magnitude more efficient when the learner has both positive and negative examples.

The problem comes when speakers miscategorize speech in other dialects as incorrect examples of their own dialect, and attempt to correct them accordingly.

[-] gwl 3 points 5 hours ago

The latter comes from a place of good, but it's still misguided. If the message was understood, then it was good enough to not need a "correction" to it

[-] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 hours ago

Eye urgree, ass lng ass yu Ken rid thz wy dos eet madder howl iz zpelt?

[-] gwl 3 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

To go back to my metaphor, the difference between someone going "you should use a 2.4mm posidrive for that 2.4mm posi-head screw" when a 2.5mm will work, and someone going "you should use a hammer, not the back of your screwdriver, to hammer a nail"

Like, former one is not gonna affect anything and it's being pedantic, the latter one you're actually being helpful.

[-] gwl 2 points 5 hours ago

If the message was understood

Ain't nobody gonna decipher your nonsense

[-] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 6 points 4 hours ago

I understood it just fine. Does that make it good English?

[-] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

~~Excuse me sir, are you impugning my English?~~

Xkus mi sar, arr yoo impunning mai Englees?

[-] gwl 1 points 2 hours ago

Don't be daft

[-] Sxan@piefed.zip 3 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)
[-] gwl 1 points 5 hours ago

There's has been in that usage for like 100 years at least.

[-] Deebster@infosec.pub 2 points 5 hours ago

I think they were adding the missing words from your title

[-] gwl 1 points 5 hours ago

Only missing if they were needed. They weren't

[-] Deebster@infosec.pub 2 points 5 hours ago

The comment in question was clearly tongue in cheek, calm down.

[-] gwl 1 points 2 hours ago

Tbh I was hangry when I replied 😂, feeling much better and see that

[-] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

I suspect it should also use a semicolon instead of the comma? Or only if they left out the "because" (which itself should start with an apostrophe).

I admit my grammar is weak.

OK, OK, I'll take off my prescriptivist hat!

[-] gwl 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 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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