#prescriptivism — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #prescriptivism, aggregated by home.social.
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I recently learned that pedantry around what "AI" means is an example of Presciptivism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_prescription
While I'm generally in favor of precise language, there's a style of bad-faith, pedantic reply about using "AI" instead of "LLM" or whatnot. That's Linguistic Prescription (pejorative) in action.
#AI #LinguisticPrescription #Prescriptivism
[this is, in part, a subtoot about Marty Fouts]
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Would you board the USS Linguistic Prescriptivism?
Grammar, the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the USS Linguistic Prescriptivism. Its ongoing mission: to diagram strange new sentences; to seek out split infinitives and Oxford commas; to correct boldly what no grammarian has corrected before!
#startrek #meme #humor #grammar #prescriptivism #linguistics
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Would you board the USS Linguistic Prescriptivism?
Grammar, the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the USS Linguistic Prescriptivism. Its ongoing mission: to diagram strange new sentences; to seek out split infinitives and Oxford commas; to correct boldly what no grammarian has corrected before!
#startrek #meme #humor #grammar #prescriptivism #linguistics
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A few entries from the language section of The Standard Dictionary of Facts, published 1920 and recently purchased by me. Looking forward to reading through all the prescriptivist entries to see what sort of language use people were fretting about over a century ago.
(I particularly love the entry for “dearest”, which made me laugh out loud.)
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A few entries from the language section of The Standard Dictionary of Facts, published 1920 and recently purchased by me. Looking forward to reading through all the prescriptivist entries to see what sort of language use people were fretting about over a century ago.
(I particularly love the entry for “dearest”, which made me laugh out loud.)
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Präskriptive Linguistik im Supermarkt?
„Dass sich Konsumenten nicht bevormunden lassen, zeige das Beispiel Hafermilch: Von der EU gesetzlich zum Drink gemacht, blieb sie im Alltag fest als Milch verankert.“
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Trick question (or not): who could seriously still be at this in 2025 (well, 2024 technically as per the copyright)?
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Trick question (or not): who could seriously still be at this in 2025 (well, 2024 technically as per the copyright)?
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I don't think any punctuation marks need protecting, by the way. The Apostrophe Protection Society, for example, is a dogmatic organisation with an appetite for shaming people and no apparent understanding of the apostrophe's diverse history and continuing mutability.
Punctuation patterns ebb and flow and change with the times. If people see the need for a particular mark, they'll keep using it.
#punctuation #semicolon #apostrophe #prescriptivism #language #writing
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I don't think any punctuation marks need protecting, by the way. The Apostrophe Protection Society, for example, is a dogmatic organisation with an appetite for shaming people and no apparent understanding of the apostrophe's diverse history and continuing mutability.
Punctuation patterns ebb and flow and change with the times. If people see the need for a particular mark, they'll keep using it.
#punctuation #semicolon #apostrophe #prescriptivism #language #writing
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On the blog, a review of the linguistics book 'New Horizons in Prescriptivism Research' https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2025/04/24/book-review-new-horizons-in-prescriptivism-research-2024/
#books #BookReview #linguistics #sociolinguistics #research #language #prescriptivism #EnglishUsage
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On the blog, a review of the linguistics book 'New Horizons in Prescriptivism Research' https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2025/04/24/book-review-new-horizons-in-prescriptivism-research-2024/
#books #BookReview #linguistics #sociolinguistics #research #language #prescriptivism #EnglishUsage
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A thing about language that a lot of people don't know is that you can dislike a usage intensely – a pronunciation, a piece of grammar, etc. – without presuming to reject it on behalf of all people, in all places, for all time
#language #words #EnglishUsage #grammar #prescriptivism #LanguageChange
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A thing about language that a lot of people don't know is that you can dislike a usage intensely – a pronunciation, a piece of grammar, etc. – without presuming to reject it on behalf of all people, in all places, for all time
#language #words #EnglishUsage #grammar #prescriptivism #LanguageChange
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Annoying Words I've Seen Today
Actionable, deep dives, scaling back, impactful, attitudinal, rolling back, orgs.Other Annoying Words/phrases
Game-changer, level up, ramp up, kick off, hack (when used about everyday life i.e. cooking hack) ,elevate (hackneyed), Circle back, combo, info, typo, y'all, deets, specs, app/apps (this may be the proper word for mobile applications), pics, photos, faves, legit, adorbs, etc. There are many, many more. This is just a small sample. This is also why I generally can't tolerate more than ten minutes reading modern articles or associating with people who speak and write in this manner. It gives me a headache, sometimes literally (and yes, I do use that word in its proper sense). I fully understand why those with manual dexterity issues, etc. would write shortened words and such. But for the rest of us, there is no excuse. Yes, there are normal abbreviations, but these go well beyond that into sheer laziness. As for the corporate and sports rubbish, when did that start? Why must everything be a game-changer? When did we begin living in a video game that we started levelling up? Have we all become scuba divers that we take deep dives into everything? How did combination turn into combo, when there is only one o in it? Why must everyone, including professionals, write words such as info and photos, to say nothing of the use of emoticons, emojis, etc. in so-called business letters? Speaking of which, when did it become appropriate to call people who are not your friends or family by their first names without their permission, instead of addressing them properly i.e. "hey, Georgiana" instead of "Dear Miss Brummell" or "Dear Madam"? Then, there are those who forget to follow at least one of the rules regarding numbers in a sentence. Either you begin using numerals after ten or, as I do, after 100. "I put 2 cups on the is not proper usage. If I wrote all of my thoughts about such things, I would rival Captain Jesse in rambling and length, but suffice it to say that I am utterly disgusted by all of this modern nonsense, and even more so by bad English in general (good/well, lay/lie, me/I, double negatives, singular they, etc.) being accepted and even promoted by educators, both of native English students and of English learners!#abbreviations #cCorporateSpeak #English #grammar #language #linguistics #netspeak #prescriptivism #textspeak #words #writing
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The Strunk cost fallacy
Myths have serious sticking power. This is true not just of the myths of antiquity but also of more modern and niche types, like the myths of English usage. It seems that nothing will ever stop people peeving pointlessly about split infinitives, double negatives, passive voice, singular they, &c.
One thing that makes usage myths sticky, and spready, is that when we’ve gone to the trouble of learning something, we’re often reluctant to unlearn it, even in the face of contradictory truth – especially when that knowledge gives us a pleasurable feeling of authority or expertise. Renouncing it means accepting that we’ve wasted our time, so instead we double down.
This makes it a form of sunk cost fallacy or sunk cost effect. The term is from economics but has spread to more general use. I’m about to spread it further, with a goofy twist: Doubling down on a bogus rule of language use because you’ve invested time or cognitive effort into learning it is hereby known as the Strunk cost fallacy (or Strunk cost effect).
Regrettably, there is no way to include E. B. White in the coinage without spoiling the pun, but both he and William Strunk Jr. bear some responsibility for promulgating a range of egregious misunderstandings about English grammar, usage, and ‘correctness’.
The dogmatic tone in those authors’ influential Elements of Style also fuels, among some of its devotees, intolerance of non-standardized dialects and informal varieties of English, because readers gain (or strengthen) the impression that in language use there can be only one right way. This is another fallacy, an insidious and socially toxic one.
If you find evidence that you have a mistaken belief about language use – it happens to us all – then my advice is to heed that evidence. Instead of allowing your defences to reject the possibility that you’ve wasted your time learning and maybe promoting a falsity, embrace the opportunity to revise your beliefs. Don’t fall for the Strunk cost fallacy.
In closing, here’s a related piece of snark:
Accidentally typed “Strunk and Why” and this sums up my feelings better than any tired rant I might muster
— Stan Carey (@stancarey.bsky.social) Oct 16, 2024 at 20:33
(I tried embedding an equivalent Mastodon post, but it didn’t work the way Bluesky’s did. I’m using both platforms for now.)
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A few other coinages you might like: Whom’s Law of Hypercorrection; Indo-European Jones; scary quotes; the apostrophantom; the Typographic Oath for editors.
#books #EBWhite #grammar #humour #language #neologisms #peevology #phrases #prescriptivism #TheElementsOfStyle #usage #WilliamStrunkJr
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The people most likely to complain about grammar are the people least likely to distinguish it from style, register, spelling, and usage.
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The people most likely to complain about grammar are the people least likely to distinguish it from style, register, spelling, and usage.
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Concerning #grammar & #spelling, I no longer adhere to #prescriptivism as I once did. #Descriptivism dovetails far better with my acquired understanding of language as a living, growing, metamorphosing creature that *will not* be contained or constrained by any rules we humans try to place upon it.
However.
Choices such as
orientate
conversate
nucular
alot
realitor
michievious
definatly
apart ofwill never fail to make me wither away a little on the inside.
Sorry, y'all. 😆🖖
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Concerning #grammar & #spelling, I no longer adhere to #prescriptivism as I once did. #Descriptivism dovetails far better with my acquired understanding of language as a living, growing, metamorphosing creature that *will not* be contained or constrained by any rules we humans try to place upon it.
However.
Choices such as
orientate
conversate
nucular
alot
realitor
michievious
definatly
apart ofwill never fail to make me wither away a little on the inside.
Sorry, y'all. 😆🖖
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@ross You should be prosecuted #prescriptivism – even MLA finally kicked the 2-space recommendation like a decade ago.
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@ross You should be prosecuted #prescriptivism – even MLA finally kicked the 2-space recommendation like a decade ago.
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Sometimes I think that what I find so inherently comforting about New York/New Jersey accents is how they don't go in much for /u/-fronting.
They treat the vowel quadrilateral with some goddamn RESPECT.
#linguistics #phonology #phonetics #sociolinguistics #prescriptivism #JustEnoughKnowledgeAboutPhoneticsToMissThePoint
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Sometimes I think that what I find so inherently comforting about New York/New Jersey accents is how they don't go in much for /u/-fronting.
They treat the vowel quadrilateral with some goddamn RESPECT.
#linguistics #phonology #phonetics #sociolinguistics #prescriptivism #JustEnoughKnowledgeAboutPhoneticsToMissThePoint
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I'm reading a student paper where the expression 'at the behest of' is used repeatedly to mean 'at the expense of', and it's getting on my nerves.
#whinging #prescriptivism #wordsMeanThingsDammit #butImALinguistTho #EVEN_SO!!!
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I'm reading a student paper where the expression 'at the behest of' is used repeatedly to mean 'at the expense of', and it's getting on my nerves.
#whinging #prescriptivism #wordsMeanThingsDammit #butImALinguistTho #EVEN_SO!!!
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A related post of mine, on language reform and prescriptivism:
"By oversimplifying the nature and aims of prescriptivism, we invite confusion, category errors, and semantic muddles"
https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2021/07/25/four-types-of-language-prescriptivism/
#EnglishUsage #prescriptivism #editing #writing #EditorsOfMastodon #language #EditingCommunity
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A related post of mine, on language reform and prescriptivism:
"By oversimplifying the nature and aims of prescriptivism, we invite confusion, category errors, and semantic muddles"
https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2021/07/25/four-types-of-language-prescriptivism/
#EnglishUsage #prescriptivism #editing #writing #EditorsOfMastodon #language #EditingCommunity
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Wishing English were more like Latin is like wishing your partner were more like your ex
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Wishing English were more like Latin is like wishing your partner were more like your ex
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Is this an email from Amazon offering to sell me a platform from which I can observe fraudsters? Or is it telling me I should look out (which normally has a space) for them?
(It's a real email.)
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So many things wrong with this…To start with, why do people associate longer, latin-related words with more ‘formal’ when it is just ‘longer’? Second…what’s with the bellies…and the belly rubbing? @linguisticsmemes #linguistics #prescriptivism #Ignoranceofscience @linguistics
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God help me if I ever have to interview with a company that invents stupid words.
"we are a Series A startup building the 'operating system for rentalpreneurs'"
Just say you are building management software for small landlords. Gah!
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#Introduction (since I am still new here): I am a linguist at Freie Universität Berlin, working on #Dutch and other #Westgermanic languages (#German, #English, #Afrikaans, #Plattdeutsch etc.). My focus is on #morphology and #LanguageChange, mostly from a #contrastive perspective. Also interested in #sociolinguistics and the relationship between language and society. #StandardLanguageIdeology and #prescriptivism are central topics in our #Graduiertenkolleg on #normativity at #FUBerlin.
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The Trouble with Harry’s grammar
Alfred Hitchcock’s comedy-thriller The Trouble with Harry (1955), amidst all its talk of murder and romance, has a fun little exchange of sociolinguistic interest between John Forsythe (‘Sam Marlowe’) and Edmund Gwenn (‘Capt. Albert Wiles’):
Marlowe’s correction is notable for being relatively polite. Those who correct others’ speech uninvited often do so in a rude and judgemental way. Marlowe corrects Wiles gently and off-handedly, as though automatically correcting a child. Indeed, Wiles doesn’t even notice and reacts as if Marlowe had merely echoed him. For good measure he adds another nonstandard usage: past tense say for said.
That Miles doesn’t pick up on the prescriptive nudge also chimes with what happens when children have their speech corrected – they tend to repeat what they said rather than immediately adopt the ‘proper’ form. Abby Kaplan, in her excellent book about language myths, Women Talk More than Men, reviews the research and concludes:
Some parents tend to repeat or expand on their children’s utterances, but it is unclear whether children actually use this kind of feedback to correct their own speech. Since there are societies in which this kind of interaction is rare, it is unlikely that repetitions and expansions are absolutely necessary for language acquisition.
Of course, Captain Wiles has already fully acquired his language: it’s just that the variety or dialect he uses differs in some respects from standardized English, prompting Marlowe’s useless intervention.
The script for The Trouble with Harry was written by John Michael Hayes. I don’t know if the same exchange appears in the source novel by Jack Trevor Story, but Hitchcock obviously liked it. He featured another linguistic allusion, to Alfred Korzybski and his General Semantics, in The Birds:
Hitchcock’s interest in usage also manifests in a letter he wrote to Ernest Lehman, writer of North by Northwest, in which he wondered, in a parenthetical aside, if his use of while should be whilst. I covered the whilst, amongst, amidst issue in a previous post.
#AbbyKaplan #acting #AlfredHitchcock #AlfredKorzybski #dialect #EdmundGwenn #ethnolinguistics #film #GeneralSemantics #grammar #humour #language #languageAcquisition #linguistics #prescriptivism #sociolinguistics #TheBirds #TheTroubleWithHarry #TippiHedren #usage #whilst
