QotD

[digitaldiscipline]

"Political chaos is connected with the decay of language.... One can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end."
- George Orwell

Do you suppose this is an argument for or against Grammar Nazis? ;-)

On a (slightly) more serious note, it's interesting to filter both the online and offline cultures I wade through daily with this particular thought in mind (hilariously grotesque fanfic notwithstanding).

Comments

[webmd.livejournal.com]

Definitely for us grammar nazis. Love the quote!

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I initially agreed with that, but then reconsidered, since I'm relatively pro-responsible-anarchy, and think politics as they stand today could use a big can of whoopass applied to them.

"You say you want a revolution. . . we-elllll, yanno. . . . "

[etcet.livejournal.com]

but by the same token (he says, having hit submit too quickly), it begs the question that, looking at how fucked up things are now, what portion of that is attributable to the general haphazard chaos that's proliferating - ebonics, 1337-5p33k, redneck mushmouth, manager-ese. . .

are they the disease, a symptom, or something else?

[etcet.livejournal.com]

[replying to myself, how gauche]

I personally suspect that the fragmentation of language is indicative of the fragmentation of culture, which in and of itself is not altogether a negative event; however, the more iconoclastic and isolated the subcultures become from one another, the more monocolutural they tend to become until they themselves spin off sub-groups (the way there are east coast/west coast rap wars, or perky v industial goths, or the nine bajillion flavors of christianity or judaism) that will themselves sow dissent.

It's all well and good to have a circle of folks you can agree with, but by the same token, losing touch with (or avoiding) folks who think differently could skew your perceptions.

Civil discourse is what dies when language and culture shatters.

[david-deacon.livejournal.com]

Groups of whatever-kind always use slang and cant to bond among themselves and exclude outsiders. Too much of it and you get the circle-the-wagons mentality.

[webmd.livejournal.com]

Well, someone recently told me that W says "nucular" and "internets" not because he's truly an idiot but because he wants to appear to be just one of the guys, not too scholarly, but just another redneck, so he can get all that redneck support. Maybe if our President led the way by using language properly, instead of dumbing himself down, then the people would stop thinking it's okay to be grammatical cretins.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

There was an article on Salon a couple of weeks ago that said, essentially, that the wide red middle of america was saying a collective "fuck y'all" to the educated (and largely liberal) elite [note: the really wealthy elite are overwhelmingly republican, because they're the ones who run the big businesses and get the big tax breaks - the irony is not lost on me] because "we" deign to denigrate the moron in chief for being stupid, or acting like an ass.

he is, in a very real sense, the face this country presents to the world. i dunno about you, but i want to make sure my fly is buttoned and there's no spinach between my teeth when i'm trying to pick up girls or meet somebody's parents.

[gruamach.livejournal.com]

Hrm.
I'd say that it's a vote in favor of.

Working in an area innudated by "ebonics", I'm fully in favor of the axim that "the quality of one's speech is the best indication of the quality of their brains."