Re:English as She Is Spoke
by denton-scratch on Tuesday January 03, 2023 @06:21AM
(#34230189)
Merriam Webster are the arch-descriptivists. If a usage is attested anywhere, MW lists it as correct. Basically, they don't believe that any usage attested anywhere can be incorrect. If you want to know whether a usage is correct or not, don't ask MW.
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Re:English as She Is Spoke
by amanaplanacanal on Tuesday January 03, 2023 @09:21AM
(#34231627)
Correct according to whom?
Re:English as She Is Spoke
by denton-scratch on Tuesday January 03, 2023 @11:55AM
(#34234051)
Humpty Dumpty is not an authority on the meaning of words.
Re:English as She Is Spoke
by amanaplanacanal on Tuesday January 03, 2023 @12:13PM
(#34234317)
That’s the thing. Nobody is. Words were not handed down from god. Language changes continuously. Notice how we aren’t speaking proto-indo-european any more?
Re:English as She Is Spoke
by denton-scratch on Tuesday January 03, 2023 @02:17PM
(#34236521)
I'm trying to avoid this conversation :-) I think descriptivism/prescriptivism is probably off-topic in this thread.
Oh well -
Someone upthread implied that the purpose of a descriptivist dictionary is to help readers/hearers to understand unfamiliar words, not to guide writers/speakers in correct usage. Thing is, they're all descriptivist. There are opinionated guides like Fowler (and the subject of this article! /on-topic), but I don't know of an opinionated lexicon.
Re:English as She Is Spoke
by amanaplanacanal on Tuesday January 03, 2023 @10:39PM
(#34241719)
Honestly it’s just my pet peeve. It’s like grammar nazis. I want to tell them this just isn’t how language works.
Descriptivist dictionaries aren't about giving advice on usage that best communicates, so consulting them as a usage guide is usually not the best idea. They're to help one understand unfamiliar words or usage—including common but maybe-not-great ones!—not to use as a guide to what's best. Finding a definition in a dictionary isn't enough to justify a choice, aside from confirming that one has not done something entirely novel.