A few random thoughts
May. 2nd, 2006 08:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilI just feel like blathering a bit, with no particular direction. So, in the order that they pop into my brain, here are my thoughts:
1. Language change is a sign of a vibrant, growing culture, and people who try to resist it are not only mistaken about the way language works, but they're fighting a lost cause. It's gonna change; people will say "gonna" instead of "going to" because it's easier and flows better; get over it! I am very fond of old forms of English, but they're not lost entirely. Even Old English, from all the way back in pre-medieval times, still exists in written forms; imagine how much more we'll be able to save newer forms of English now that we have recording devices. Meanwhile, the newest forms are the way language naturally evolves to adapt to a changing people. It's why Latin is an intellectual curiosity, but not a viable language - it doesn't have a community to speak it and help it adapt. And the people with the authority to change the language are - guess what - the people who speak it. Uneducated, illiterate, whatever - from ancient Phoenician to Middle English, languages have been shaped by all classes of speakers. Why try to change that now? It's not gonna happen. Oh, and there's no such thing as "written language." Language, which is a form of complex communication naturally emerging among cultures, occurs either as verbal exchanges or in sophisticated gesturing systems like sign language. Written systems are devised to represent those languages, but they are not languages in and of themselves. The changes of the language filter down into the written systems, which resist change more because records have a semblance of permanance. But that does not make writing systems a more proper or correct form of language. They're just more polished, having the chance to be edited. The Internet, of course, has thinned the line between spontaneous speech and written representations of it, what with extremely informal email and blog language. The spelling and punctuation can be downright painful, of course, but that's a matter of mechanics and has no bearing on grammar and usage.
2. I hear lots of mothers talking about how busy they are, and realize that most of my guilt comes from the fact that I'm not busy at all. I have pretty leisurely days, except for when my children gang up on me to demand my attention at the same time. Usually, my son's at school, my daughter's playing somewhere that I can smile at her and make sure she's all right, and I'm muddling around on the Internet. And I think cringingly that I should wash the dishes or mend that hole-y clothing, or at least go write something or play the piano. But I just spend another hour online. It's because a homemaker's responsiblities are largely self-enforced. If I don't get them done, my husband doesn't worry, my children don't notice, and no one else cares. I don't have a lot of real deadlines or actual appointments. I should be making them myself and writing it in a handy little day planner. But I don't. And I spend another hour online.
3. People always greet each other with "Hey" in TV shows. It's not as noticable when you're just hearing it, but if you put on the close captioning, you see, "Hey" "Hey" "Hey" "Hey" and it begins to seem ridiculous. I usually say "hi" or "hello" myself. I wonder when "Hey" became the default for television.
4. There's something weird with our email - certain buttons don't respond to being pressed, including "Reply" "Forward" and "Attach files," which is monstrous inconvenient. I think it has something to do with our "cookies," but unless it involves adding more butter or cooking for another five minutes, I don't have the slightest idea how to fix them. Also I can't get our printer figured out, even though it says it should work. In our previous homes we could call on various friends or family members with computer know-how, but none of them live nearby now. I'm sure we could find someone if we just asked, but I'm not big on asking people for help. One of my stupid stubborn streaks.
5. If I had Photoshop, I would go seriously icon-happy. I had a desk calender with Episode II pictures, and when the year was up I cut out all the pictures and made a collage out of selected images, with snippets of lines that went along with them. This took quite some time and effort, and verged on obessive. Now, if I had access to such collage-makers on the computer...well, the results might be dangerous. This is why it might be a good thing that we can't really afford Photoshop right now.
6. I hate cell phones. I hate talking on the phone; why extend the areas where I would have to do it? I don't want to be reached in every place I'm in; I don't like having a stupid little box attached to my ear. And it bewilders me that commercials now target their products at families, like parents are really thinking, "Gee, I want my child to have a cell phone, but I just haven't found the perfect family plan." What the heck does a teenager or even younger child need with a cell phone? Now I'm in crochity old lady mode, poking my cane around. Young upstart whippersnappers...maybe I'm secretly a Luddite.
Well, I'm done.
1. Language change is a sign of a vibrant, growing culture, and people who try to resist it are not only mistaken about the way language works, but they're fighting a lost cause. It's gonna change; people will say "gonna" instead of "going to" because it's easier and flows better; get over it! I am very fond of old forms of English, but they're not lost entirely. Even Old English, from all the way back in pre-medieval times, still exists in written forms; imagine how much more we'll be able to save newer forms of English now that we have recording devices. Meanwhile, the newest forms are the way language naturally evolves to adapt to a changing people. It's why Latin is an intellectual curiosity, but not a viable language - it doesn't have a community to speak it and help it adapt. And the people with the authority to change the language are - guess what - the people who speak it. Uneducated, illiterate, whatever - from ancient Phoenician to Middle English, languages have been shaped by all classes of speakers. Why try to change that now? It's not gonna happen. Oh, and there's no such thing as "written language." Language, which is a form of complex communication naturally emerging among cultures, occurs either as verbal exchanges or in sophisticated gesturing systems like sign language. Written systems are devised to represent those languages, but they are not languages in and of themselves. The changes of the language filter down into the written systems, which resist change more because records have a semblance of permanance. But that does not make writing systems a more proper or correct form of language. They're just more polished, having the chance to be edited. The Internet, of course, has thinned the line between spontaneous speech and written representations of it, what with extremely informal email and blog language. The spelling and punctuation can be downright painful, of course, but that's a matter of mechanics and has no bearing on grammar and usage.
2. I hear lots of mothers talking about how busy they are, and realize that most of my guilt comes from the fact that I'm not busy at all. I have pretty leisurely days, except for when my children gang up on me to demand my attention at the same time. Usually, my son's at school, my daughter's playing somewhere that I can smile at her and make sure she's all right, and I'm muddling around on the Internet. And I think cringingly that I should wash the dishes or mend that hole-y clothing, or at least go write something or play the piano. But I just spend another hour online. It's because a homemaker's responsiblities are largely self-enforced. If I don't get them done, my husband doesn't worry, my children don't notice, and no one else cares. I don't have a lot of real deadlines or actual appointments. I should be making them myself and writing it in a handy little day planner. But I don't. And I spend another hour online.
3. People always greet each other with "Hey" in TV shows. It's not as noticable when you're just hearing it, but if you put on the close captioning, you see, "Hey" "Hey" "Hey" "Hey" and it begins to seem ridiculous. I usually say "hi" or "hello" myself. I wonder when "Hey" became the default for television.
4. There's something weird with our email - certain buttons don't respond to being pressed, including "Reply" "Forward" and "Attach files," which is monstrous inconvenient. I think it has something to do with our "cookies," but unless it involves adding more butter or cooking for another five minutes, I don't have the slightest idea how to fix them. Also I can't get our printer figured out, even though it says it should work. In our previous homes we could call on various friends or family members with computer know-how, but none of them live nearby now. I'm sure we could find someone if we just asked, but I'm not big on asking people for help. One of my stupid stubborn streaks.
5. If I had Photoshop, I would go seriously icon-happy. I had a desk calender with Episode II pictures, and when the year was up I cut out all the pictures and made a collage out of selected images, with snippets of lines that went along with them. This took quite some time and effort, and verged on obessive. Now, if I had access to such collage-makers on the computer...well, the results might be dangerous. This is why it might be a good thing that we can't really afford Photoshop right now.
6. I hate cell phones. I hate talking on the phone; why extend the areas where I would have to do it? I don't want to be reached in every place I'm in; I don't like having a stupid little box attached to my ear. And it bewilders me that commercials now target their products at families, like parents are really thinking, "Gee, I want my child to have a cell phone, but I just haven't found the perfect family plan." What the heck does a teenager or even younger child need with a cell phone? Now I'm in crochity old lady mode, poking my cane around. Young upstart whippersnappers...maybe I'm secretly a Luddite.
Well, I'm done.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 03:01 pm (UTC)There's a massive difference between standardizing the means of written representation of language, and attempting to normalize actual languages. The former is a useful way of bettering writing systems; the latter is entirely unnecessary, not to mention impossible. People tend to shift and alter "rules" of language on a sub-conscious level, and any attempt to externally force or halt change is inevitably resisted. Academies don't make language; people do. But if they want to revise the punctuation systems, that's reasonable.
(Being on the verge of giving birth, by the way, is the only time I think a cell phone might actually be useful. But I still resist it...I'm just an old-fashioned crank.)