As part of my rigourous adherence to a week of no displacement activity, I merely glossed over the online news this morning.
However this article from the Guardian caught my eye. Apparently the Queen's English Society is planning to set up an English Academy to protect the English language.
And about time too!
As a committed logophile, I deplore the modern way with words. Or rather the lack of it.
A recent study by the Head of Linguistics at Lancaster University, professor Tony McEnery, found that teenagers use just 20 words for a third of their verbal communication.
20 WORDS!
Just in case you're interested, these words are:
You, I, The, And, It, A, To, Yeah, That, What, No, In, Know, He, Of, It's, Oh, Is, Like, On.
Not quite sure what happened to 'but.'
Don't even get me started on textspeak and the complete inability of even some adults to punctuate properly, or make a stab at correct grammatical structure.
I don't think that the English language should be preserved in aspic, but it certainly should be prevented from degenerating into a 'one word fits all' mentality.
Which brings me to my guilty secret...
I actually ENJOY spelling tests.
Yes.
Yes I know.
I probably should get out more, but there you are.
So fellow logophiles might be interested in this
Which, incidentally, in No Way qualifies as displacement activity. I like to think of it as a mental workout while simultaneously honing my writing skills.
*cough*
2 comments:
Same happens in Italy, people are appereantly no more able to use verbs properly or consecutio temporum. Conditionals are the most frequent victims.In "modern" schools Grammar is no more taught because, they claim, it would be learned naturally by hearing. But what if parents speak like Cro Magnon? thankfully Italian does not need spelling abilities.
BTW excuse my mistakes, I guess they are ore than I suspect. Have a nice day, Rosanna
Oh, yes! Logophilia rules OK!
With the rich heritage of our native tongue, I just can't understand people who don't make full use of it. Perhaps they don't read? I do think reading is the key.
I enjoy spelling tests, too. Perhaps we both need to get out more!
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