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Racist has replaced if, as the most used, abused and overused words in the English language. Nowadays racist is used for so many things, it's almost useless.
English is the greatest language in the whole world. One of the reasons it's also the most used language worldwide is there are so many words. I truly enjoy listening to King's English spoken by someone like John Cleese. Perfect enunciation, the exquisite ability to choose the perfect words to describe any action, object, or situation.
I have to say I'm a huge fan of the Kings English. If todays politicians would speak that way many more would be worth listening too.
You know when everything is considered "racist" then nothing is actually racist. So, can we as a society just stop with this obsession with everything being racist? I know the Media likes to push it to create manufactured controversy, and viewership. Maybe just turn them off? I have.
When you consider that language is very fluid, and word meaning change, and new words are invented every year and "turns of a phrase" are adopted, why is it only White people's language changes are acceptable as correct?
If you are thinking of a dead language, say, Latin, then yes, those standards don't change and there is a correct and incorrect way to speak Latin.
With an evolving language, it is a little surprising that only language evolutions made by white people are considered correct.
Do you not think that? We accept our changes as correct. Not theirs.
I'm involved with a fairly large open source project that includes people across the entire globe. Everyone involved with this project at the very least can type and read standard English fluently, for many of them it's not their first language. If you cannot do that you will not be considered for this software project because everyone needs to be able to communicate on the same level. Someone from the US with poor grammar skills would not be considered either.
You can make arguments about who is making the rules of English but if you cannot communicate with the rules agreed upon by the majority you are going to be left behind.
Last edited by thecoalman; 01-21-2019 at 12:12 PM..
Linguists insist that Standard English is no better than any other dialect of English, but they speak nothing else themselves nor do they teach their children anything else.
It's *not* better; it's *standard* for certain people and situations. If you want to communicate with smart and educated people, you need to speak their language.
Linguists insist that Standard English is no better than any other dialect of English, but they speak nothing else themselves nor do they teach their children anything else.
It isn't any better but really the point is to be able to communicate effectively. Grammar becomes really important when you study a foreign language and you are trying to make sense of it. Grammar defines the rules so you know which word is the subject and which is the object, for instance (English uses word-order, other languages do not). But grammar within the English language for English speakers becomes more of a pedantic tool, something to make students do as part of education but after that it becomes a mechanism for dividing people.
So, I don't think grammar is unjust, but like any other tool it can be used in ways that are not its real purpose.
When you consider that language is very fluid, and word meaning change, and new words are invented every year and "turns of a phrase" are adopted, why is it only White people's language changes are acceptable as correct?
If you are thinking of a dead language, say, Latin, then yes, those standards don't change and there is a correct and incorrect way to speak Latin.
With an evolving language, it is a little surprising that only language evolutions made by white people are considered correct.
Do you not think that? We accept our changes as correct. Not theirs.
You're talking about yourself here. To you, only the views of white people (or elite white people) matter, apparently.
Look at the passive voice in bold. Are you saying that non-whites do not consider their own "language evolutions" to be correct?
Last edited by hbdwihdh378y9; 01-21-2019 at 01:00 PM..
I don't think proper grammar is racist at all. It's called knowing how to communicate & really should have nothing to do with race. Can you see someone emailing their boss or client using "c u 2morrow" or "brb" or any of the multitude of shortcuts people use when texting? Younger people & some not so young consider that communicating.
In all fairness, what used to be called "ebonics" does have grammar rules.
All language evolves constantly. We've decided, as a society, that the rules the White people speak are correct, and the rules traditionally Black people use are incorrect.
Because we can.
And also, language used by Cajuns is incorrect.
But when educated white people change words (for example, an alternate definition of literally is now figuratively, as in "My eyes literally popped out of my head") they become a part of the accepted correct language. A coffee. Do lunch.
Tasked with. A big ask.
These are accepted as correct, but they aren't traditionally correct.
Again with the passive voice! It is not true that these things "are accepted" as correct. Some people accept the misuse of "literally"; others don't. If you tell me that President Trump is "literally petrified", I'm going to think you're a moron who has never been around educated or thoughtful people.
A "big ask"? Well, that's no big deal. Verbs turn into nouns all the time. Just watch a football game, and you'll see a pass, a catch, a hit, a run, a throw, a tackle, a kick, etc. Why not an "ask" in addition to a "request"?
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