What is “The Correct Use of the English Language”?
Before I answer the question posed in the title of this blog post, I must explain something. Recently I made a new friend online. Moein is a pre-university student learning English in Iran, and he wrote a few weeks back to let me know he enjoys my and Joshua’s blogs. I was SO flattered to have someone in Iran reading my blog that I wrote back. Our correspondence has been delightful, and it’s so great to get a true Iranian perspective, not just one I see on the news.
In his last email, Moein asked me to respond to some deep questions by way of blog post. I’ll be addressing each one individually, and I would appreciate other friends to chime in as well. I hope to stimulate some enlightening and entertaining conversation for Moein. Yay!
So then, over on the left side of the website here I have an “About” section. There I divulge that “I am passionate about God, Green living, good health, and the correct use of the English language.” What do I mean by “The Correct Use of the English Language” Moein wonders? Well, I mean this…
Too many Americans nowadays have little respect for our language. People constantly redefine words so that words lose their meaning. Some colloquialisms are inevitable, but (for example) when “bad” means good, and “good” means weak, the true weight of using the word “bad” to signify evil or “good” to mean wonderful (not mediocre) is completely lost. I wonder if this problem exists with the Persian language too (or even Spanish, of which I have a more than cursory knowledge).
In the United States popular culture has always redefined language, and to an extent I think this is good. It’s how the younger generation sets itself apart from the stodgy ways of the old. But when language can no longer adequately communicate, or you have to use SO many words to explain your thoughts (to get just the right meaning across, because simply saying what you mean could be misinterpreted by the hearer), language has lost its purpose.
There’s a movie called My Fair Lady that was filmed in the 1960s where one of the characters laments “Why Can’t the English Learn to Speak” in a catchy song. In the movie it was more of a class problem (upper/richer classes valuing proper use of language, lower/poorer classes demeaning it). I suppose upper, middle, and lower classes in the United States have the same issue, but it definitely seems to be more of an age gap.
What do you think?
5 Responses to “What is “The Correct Use of the English Language”?”
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Katie Stewart
I couldn’t agree more. I used to tell my students all the time that if we cannot speak correctly, we cannot communicate clearly. And if we cannot communicate clearly, what is the point of being human? For communication is what we were made to do.
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Mama Dalton
I once substituted for an 8th grade English class. True to expectation of the Administration of that school, who had warned in advance that these students were an unruly and disrespectful bunch of hooligans, they were constantly talking over my attempts to teach, and generally lacked normal courtesy that one would expect.
When I had had enough (at approximately the time I had spent five minutes in the classroom), I said, “Ladies and gentlemen (a term I used reflexively, as it had certainly not been earned), in this classroom, while I am the teacher, I expect at least a modicum of decorum.”
There was complete silence. One student piped up, “A what?!?”
I repeated my expectation “A modicum of decorum.”
“What the heck is that?!?” another asked.
“Well, I suppose you cannot give what you do not understand, now can you.”
So, we proceeded to the dictionary, and then to a lively discussion of courtesy and manners in general. They were so taken with the words themselves, that the novelty of the actions occupied them for the rest of the class period.
However, what really mattered to me happened over 20 years later when one of those students stopped me at a town festival to show off his child and introduce me to his wife. He did so by stating, “This is the teacher that taught me about words and behavior and how important they both are.” You never know.
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Moein
Thank you very much Mrs. Blankenship.
I exactly agree. This is one of big problems in learning English that each word has many means and sometimes one word has 2 opposite means, for example the word : “invaluable” that is wide-mouthed for us!. Although in Persian Language (and I think in each language) we have such problems, but we have less words that redefined inappropriately. So, we (foreign English learners) can deal with it only by practice and habit…
But English is a nice language and it’s easier than other languages (however linguists say that Speranto is the easiest language) and I think it will be better in future…Best Wishes,
Moein -
Mandy
Moein,
You’re exactly right, “practice and habit” are the way to master a language. I took Spanish in high school and college, but it wasn’t until I lived in Madrid and was forced to converse with people every day that my head knowledge became practical. You are already well on your way to conquering the nuances of English because you can communicate about your feelings and other abstract concepts like faith, politics, whathaveyou. Those are the most difficult and most rewarding.
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trevor
Interesting post. C.S. Lewis mentions this loss of meaning related to the word “christian.” He uses “gentleman” as an example of culture changing the meaning of language. Another example is “member.”