
Puttin' on the Style: On writing, and on English style - pepys
https://www.newcriterion.com/issues/2018/2/puttin-on-the-style
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gerdesj
I stuck with it and found some gems but it comes across as a nasty case of
naval gazing (similar to the navel version but you have to spit out the bits
of rope stuck in your teeth, or choke)

The initial paras are quite fun parodies and explained soon after.

"English, unlike French, has no academy to protect its virtue": thank goodness
- English has no virtue and no morals. It takes what it needs and returns the
favour in flexibility. However, English spoken by a French person does sound
rather lovely.

"guerrilla outfits of Berks and Wankers" \- I've never read Amis but it seems
I might have to:

"Berks ... Left to them the English language would die of impurity, like late
Latin."

"Wankers ... Left to them the language would die of purity, like medieval
Latin."

I too was educated at a posh prep. school (but in Devon, UK) and a posh public
school in Oxon (public schools in the UK are private schools - we are a bit
odd). I too was taught "correct" use of the language, except that I was taught
en_GB rather than en_US. I still have my copy of "Use and abuse of the English
language" somewhere. I should probably recycle its materials.

English does not require an Academy of Immortals to look after it. There are a
few good reasons why it is a good first and second choice for a Frankish
Language, one of which is that you _can_ use and abuse it and still be
understood.

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zipwitch
Several of these remind me of James Nicoll's old quote from Usenet:

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English
is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on
occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them
unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

~~~
gerdesj
Great quote. English does give back a little as well as take. My current
favourites are _le blue jean_ (denim is derived from De Nimes!) and _le
bifteck_ (beef[steak] is derived from la boeuf.)

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petecox
Schooled in 1980s Australia, I'd never heard of the split infinitive
controversy growing up; it seems a popular topic whenever Dr Pinker's name is
mentioned.

Roddenberry's Star Trek seems to have been groundbreaking in more ways than
one. To boldly split where no prescriptivist has gone before!

