Posted on 04/23/2016 5:23:29 PM PDT by markomalley
If you're a proud grammar snob, the leftwing Guardian's Mona Chalabi wants you to know that you're simply a wealthy, white racist trying to silence minority voices like hers in order to maintain your wealthy, white, racist power imbalance.
In the short video above, Chalabi attempts to suggest that grammar rules don't even exist in the real world, only in the condescending minds of wealthy, white racists.
She acknowledges the "grammar snob's" argument that everyone needs a common set of rules that everyone can understand, but attempts to rebut this by saying such rules aren't commonly held at all -- "they're just their rules." This is the linguistic equivalent of the left's argument that morality itself is just an arbitrary construct; it is typical of their relentless assault on standards of any kind in order to deconstruct and delegitimize Western culture.
She attempts to demonstrate this by pointing out that the words "literally" and "figuratively" are becoming interchangeable in common usage (which is sadly true) and therefore "some Elizabethan definition of correctness" about them is meaningless and outdated. The fact is that if you use those two antonyms interchangeably, it does matter, because you are diluting the meaning of your statement and creating confusion in the minds of your readers or listeners.
Chalabi claims that there is no confusion about those or other commonly interchangeable terms like "less" and "fewer," because everyone knows what you mean even when you get them wrong. As a former English teacher (and current white, albeit not wealthy, grammar snob), I can tell you that this is a common excuse: "But you know what I meant." On the contrary, if you want people to know what you mean, it is crucial to strive for precision of language and grammar; a habit of imprecision leads to breakdowns of communication.
"It doesn't take much to see the power imbalance in grammar snobbery," she continues, getting to the crux of her argument. "The people pointing out those mistakes are more likely to be older, wealthier, white, or just plain academic than the people they're treating with condescension. All too often, it's a way to silence people, and that's particularly offensive when it's someone who might already be struggling to speak up."
Chalabi wants you to believe that minorities today are "struggling to speak up," which is laughably untrue. Minority voices like hers have never been so prominent or encouraged in the publishing world and broadcast media. She also wants you to believe that wealthy white people invented and insist on adherence to the rules of the English language to keep minorities silenced, when in fact those rules exist and are taught (or used to be taught) to enable everyone, including minorities, to express themselves as clearly and effectively as possible. Every language -- not just English -- has grammar rules. Without abiding by those rules, language -- and therefore meaning -- is gradually degraded and our ability to communicate with one another degrades as well.
"We should spend more time listening to what others have to say," she concludes, "and less focusing on the grammar what they say it with." I'll just leave that right there.
What Chalabi is ignoring in order to push her radical agenda is that what silences people is pretending grammar and language don't matter -- or worse, pretending that they shouldn't matter because they're only the arbitrary tools of white oppression. Yes, language evolves (although that's not always a good thing), but the rules of grammar and language are critical for everyone to share meaning and be understood as precisely as possible. If we don't strive to adhere to them, human communication will all ultimately devolve into the nonsense of Babel.
Language, grammar, definition, spelling -- these are the messy and shifting but ingenious constructs human beings have created in order to communicate and understand each other better. They aren't maliciously intended to keep some people down; they are intended to draw us all closer. It is the radical left -- Mona Chalabi among them -- not mythical white grammar oppressors, who want to undermine those constructs and manipulate them for political purposes.
LOL
“Lets eat grandma!”
“Lets eat, grandma!”
Proper grammar saves lives.
Is that proper grammar or punctuation?
Isn’t this just an admission that many blacks are too stupid for normal society?
I hope you mean...
Exactly. We all need to use two dialects.
The dialect we grew up with and a common "business dialect".
I really enjoy the sound of a deep south black person or anyone from Cajun country, Texan, etc., talking in their native dialect.
I try to slip back into my back woods native Vermonter dialect at the same time to hopefully entertain them as much as they are entertaining me.
On the other hand, I am a hopeless grammar, punctuation and spelling snob.
Unfortunately I also have some weak points in those areas myself.
I prefer to have a fellow stickler correct me when I goof up, rather than just let it go. It helps with the learning process.
We are a nation of varied dialects, I know of at least four different ones in two counties of Vermont, and can tell you what town a proper native speaker is from. These are of course real, 8th generation Vermonters, not the posers who have invaded the once wonderful state.
Hopefully no one will lose their unique ways of speaking and writing, but add to their abilities proper English for the times when it is needed.
I’ve always enjoyed hearing regional accents, and have something of an ear for them. If I’m in a place for a week, I start unconsciously picking it up. In the region of NC where I grew up, you could usually tell where somebody grew up, down to the county at least. But, there was a mixed bag of settlers in the colonial era that was the source of that. To the west, Scotch-Irish led to the mountain twang of Appalachia. Due east, a lot of plantations and an accent that would sound at home in Mississippi. To the southeast, Quakers. Directly south, German. Where I was, English, mostly from the southwest of England originally. Quite a patchwork, and there were distinct speech patterns stemming from that two centuries later. Not so much anymore, though.
“...allows a writer or speaker to share their exact thoughts...”
Correct grammar is important, all right. Too bad so few use it.
bump
“Is that proper grammar or punctuation?”
Yes. Punctuation is a subset of grammar.
Except for the wealthy part, she’s right.
She needs to shut up until she learns English. Or buy a decent word processor.
“I’ve always enjoyed hearing regional accents...”
Hah’djoo know ahs fum Jaw-jah? :-)
On the other hand, I am a hopeless grammar, punctuation and spelling snob.
Unfortunately I also have some weak points in those areas myself.
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You just described me, especially your second remark.
Pet peeve - “infer/imply”. I wish everybody knew the difference.
Over used word, “implode”. Doesn’t anything “explode” anymore?
My special weakness is commas, when and when not to use them. I was taught that when conjunctions are used, commas are not.
True story:
Back in the 70s, Chicago teachers were on strike. I was watching a reporter talking to people on the picket line. He asked one woman, “What do you do at the school”?
I’m not making this up, she replied, “I teaches English”.
“I’m not making this up, she replied, “I teaches English”.
—
Words fail me——and the sad thing is that no one here would even think that you were making it up.
.
Eggsactly.
He be, she be, it be, they be.
Yo dog, you down wit dat?
5.56mm
Interesting article that shows how racists blame even proper grammer on whites.
There’s a big difference between someone being “literally” impaled by a spear or being “virtually” impaled by a spear (as might happen in a movie). The woman’s an imbecile.
Correction to my last posting...
She used the word “figuratively”, while I used the word “virtually”. Both are synonyms, to me.
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