The Evolution of Language (NOT a grammar Nazi thread!)

[MikeJD 0]

The popularity of threads about spelling and grammar in the forums made me wonder where people think our shared language(s) is/ are going.

Clearly language is continuously changing. Since it's an evolutionary process, in theory that's for the better - so 'mistakes' that don't work, in that they reduce understanding, shouldn't survive into common usage.

It seems to me that although people (including me
So, in English:
Will the apostrophe disappear altogether?
Will the word 'than' cease to exist?
Will we end up with one word that sounds like 'there'?
Will abbreviations become the norm for written words?
Will different English-speaking nations lose their peculiar spellings and adopt common ones?

And will the globalisation of everything mean that we end up with a worldwide common language?

And will it all be a good thing, or not?

[Andy9o8 2]

You will all speak and spell like Americans. Then you will become Americans. Then you will lose your health care.

[mrwrong 0]

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You will all speak and spell like Americans. Then you will become Americans. Then you will lose your health care.

“The sum of intelligence on the planet is a constant; the population is growing.” - George Bernard Shaw
He who dies with the most toys, wins.....
dudeist skydiver # 19515
Buy quality and cry once!

[MikeJD 0]

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You will all speak and spell like Americans. Then you will become Americans. Then you will lose your health care.

You've been away too long. This is already happening, but in reverse order!

[Niki1 1]

I try to write correctly as I was taught (on clay tablets) but I'm not always successful. Especially with spelling. I hope I'm not overly critical of those who don't rise to my mediocre standards. BUT I do have a pet peive about what I call "indestinct pronouns". Most of the time it's in conversation when some one is talking about 3 or 4 people discussing an issue and says something like, "He said this and then she said that, then she said something and he said something..." and on and on. It's difficult to determine who said what without interupting and cross examining the speaker. In writting, I try my best to avoid this by identifying the person I'm quoting but that tends to make seem banal (is that the right word?) and tedius. As well as over long.
Well, just had to get that out of my system and this thread was the closest avenue I've seen in a while.

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

[DavidB 0]

Grammar, just like the environment, is always changing and evolving.

Did I really say that?!? I must be wrong, sorry.

When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

[tigra 0]

I try not to be a grammar nazi but the truth is that the deterioration of basic reading and writing skills is kind of sad. Language is a beautiful thing. I'd hate to lose all the subtleties and nuances of any given language for the sake of simplicity, or just plain laziness.

[JohnDeere 0]

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You will all speak and spell like Americans. Then you will become Americans. Then you will lose your health care.

No you got it all wrong! You can become an american with knowing english! Dont want to discriminate! "press 1 for english and 2 for spanish"

Nothing opens like a Deere!

You ignorant fool! Checks are for workers!

[countzero 7]

the suffix -ing will most likely be gone in a few years. i don't know if lack of education, the language we are exposed to in music and television, or plain laziness is to blame. it is probably a mix of all three.

diamonds are a dawgs best friend

[JohnMitchell 16]

Today in the cafeteria at work the sports show on TV used the word "schism". One of our IT people had no idea what it meant and actually said so out loud, as if to say no one knew what it meant. I gave her the definition.

[PLFXpert 0]

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I try not to be a grammar nazi but the truth is that the deterioration of basic reading and writing skills is kind of sad. Language is a beautiful thing. I'd hate to lose all the subtleties and nuances of any given language for the sake of simplicity, or just plain laziness.

Well said! Also, I would add the "understanding" of basic reading is so important. I find the lack of that is also very sad.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[NWFlyer 2]

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Today in the cafeteria at work the sports show on TV used the word "schism". One of our IT people had no idea what it meant and actually said so out loud, as if to say no one knew what it meant. I gave her the definition.

NPR did a little piece the other day on the unassisted triple play recently pulled off by the Phillies, which ended the game with a loss for the Mets. The NPR guy, who was interviewing a sports writer about the rarity of the unassisted triple play, used the term "lachrymose" to describe the Mets.

The sports writer actually commented that it's the first time he's fielded that term in a sports story. So I guess they figure the sports fans can't handle the big words (as your coworker demonstrated ).

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[happythoughts 0]

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the suffix -ing will most likely be gone in a few years..

It has been changed to -in'. As in, fishin', jumpin', and typin'.

[happythoughts 0]

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Will different English-speaking nations lose their peculiar spellings and adopt common ones?

The main thing that irritates me about English is spelling.

When there are 8 zillions exceptions, then you effective lack rules.

At least in Spanish, letters have a pronouncing. In English, it's a wild guess.
Of course, in Spanish, inanimate objects have a "sex". "Le" or "la".
Why is a table "la mesa" or a chair "la silla"?
It is just "the" something.

In English...
take the "gh" from "enough".
the "o" from "women".
the "ti" from "nation".

Combine it and it becomes "ghoti". Pronounced "fish".
(quoted from elsewhere)

[wmw999 2,545]

It'll happen willy-nilly. After all, if Englifh was good enough for our anfestors, it fhould be good enough for us.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[JohnMitchell 16]

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used the term "lachrymose" to describe the Mets.

I had a guess frrom context and a little medical terminology, but I had to look it up.

[NWFlyer 2]

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used the term "lachrymose" to describe the Mets.

I had a guess frrom context and a little medical terminology, but I had to look it up.

Well, it was NPR.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[MikeJD 0]

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Will different English-speaking nations lose their peculiar spellings and adopt common ones?

The main thing that irritates me about English is spelling.

When there are 8 zillions exceptions, then you effective lack rules.

Yep. And we've famously got the 'ough' ending, with lots of different pronunciations depending on context: rough, bough, through, dough, cough.

I can definitely see some benefit in closing the gap between pronunciation and spelling. And (shh... you didn't hear this from me), US English seems progressive in this respect. I'm thinking 'color' without the 'u', 'thru' (although I'm not sure whether that's standard), 'lieutenant' pronounced 'loo-tenant' instead of 'lef-tenant'.

Agree about gender in French and Spanish for inanimate objects as well. I don't know where that originates, and have never seen the point of it except to make fools of foreigners trying to learn the lingo!

[MikeJD 0]

Just remembered this, from a while back :

The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).

In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c." Sertainly, sivil servants will resieve this news with joy. Also, the hard "c" will be replaced with "k". Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik emthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced by "f". This will make words like fotograf" 20 persent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" by "z" and "w" by " v".

During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou", and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.

Ze drem vil finali kum tru.

[Niki1 1]

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It'll happen willy-nilly. After all, if Englifh was good enough for our anfestors, it fhould be good enough for us.

Wendy P.

There was a debate in a Bible Belt state 30 or 40 years ago about making English the official language. At some point, a state senator stood up with a King James Bible in his hand and said, "If English was good enough for our Lord Jesus Christ, it's good enough for the people of our state."

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?