Hello everyone
When I’m with other authors, the conversation often turns to finding the “right” word. You might think a group of authors would always know the right word and the correct way to use a word.
But we don’t.
And we lack this certainty for many reasons.
Which Language?
Before we can decide what is right, we have to figure what language we’re talking about.
In England, there’s a natural assumption that when we talk about English, we mean British English. But British English is not the most widely spoken dialect of English. There are (approximately) 70 million people in the United Kingdom where South Asian English is spoken by around 350 million and the population of the United States (which has another major variant of English) is around 340 million. And this is just getting started with all the variants…
So while there’s a certain logic which suggests that English spoken by the English is the “true” or “authoritative” version of English, the English don’t really have the numbers to enforce this assertion.
Also, we have to think about audiences. English is the most widely spoken second language. Whatever we say or write needs to be understood by someone for whom English may be a second or third… or fourth language.
Change
Not only do the English not have the numbers to insist on their variant, English (including British English, American English, and South Asian English) is constantly changing.
One of the main factors in this constant change is the cross-pollination between the variants. But there are many other reasons for the continual development.
New Words
When Shakespeare wrote his plays, he never felt the need to mention sending an email or making a telephone call, and he never talked about Brexit.
These words have come into the lexicon—and their like will continue to arise—because of new inventions and new situations.
And then we have skibidi.
Evolution of Old Words
Shakespeare also never mentions a sandwich.
…or as it is increasingly called today: a sammich.
I’d like a ham sammich
The line from sandwich to sammich is fairly easy to surmise: a combination of mishearing and lazy articulation. However we got here, and however much some people reading this will hate the notion, it’s only a matter of time before we all ask for sammiches.
How We Speak
It’s not just the words that change—it’s the words we string together in sentences that are changing. For instance, take the following two phrases:
- I told him I was hungry
- I told him that I was hungry
The second is probably more “proper”, but they both mean exactly the same thing, and increasingly, the word that is being used less. Indeed, particularly in spoken English, any way that a phrase can be further contracted will lead to a linguistic change. So, in this example, it’s easy to drop the first I:
…told him I was hungry
But, I wouldn’t be surprised to see further contraction. Whether it reaches its essential essence (told him, I hungry, or even told, hungry), I’m not sure. But I am certain our phrases will get shorter and more direct.
Censorship and Obfuscation
We’re all aware of rhyming slang. One of the purposes of this slang was so:
- if you knew the meaning behind the slang term, then you could be communicated with
- however, if you were not within that group of people who understood how the language was being used—the language you spoke, the words you knew—then you wouldn’t know what was being said in front of you.
It seems a quaint notion, but the principle is applied every day. There are many examples of how kids communicate with their friends, knowing that their parents will be looking over their shoulder. The kids use certain words in a certain way, knowing that their friends will understand what is being communicated. However, if their parents read the message, they will take a different meaning.
Then there are the social media censors who want to prevent conversations on certain topics—particularly those topics related to harm. Often this censorship is implemented through blunt filters which block certain words. This has led to the creation of new words where the meaning is clear, once you understand.
So for example:
- instead of dead, we now have unalive
- instead of killed, we now have unalived
- instead of suicide, we now have unalived themself
And if this reminds you of Newspeak and feels double plus ungood, you’re not alone.
Choices
The evolution of language reflects the choices we—collectively—make about how language is used.
Personally, in many instances I’m not a huge fan of pure British English. I particularly dislike words that are spelled differently to how they are pronounced, and this dislike extends to words unnecessarily spelled.
One example: words which are conventionally spelled with an S when there is a Z sound. So, I will spell the word cozy or analyze rather than use the strict British English of cosy and analyse.
Equally, I spell analog and catalog thusly, and not analogue and catalogue.
And in all these examples, my attitude is that increasingly, people read words rather than hear them, therefore to aid comprehension—and to make the link with the auditory world when people do hear a word spoken—words should, as far as possible, be spelled like they are spoken.
And If You Don’t Like It…
I get that many people don’t like the development of the language and feel that it is inherently “wrong”.
But here’s the thing…
everything we say today…everything we write today, is wrong
We don’t speak or write today like people did 100 years ago. Or 200 years. And we’re a long way away from what Shakespeare would have understood.
So to suggest that there is some sort of perfection in language that is being marred by new developments is just a nonsense. To someone else, what we speak today is already new and wrong.
Until December
That’s enough of me being argumentative for this month.
If there is something in the language that you don’t like, then can I suggest you change it. Make the change for yourself. It may take a while, but if enough people make a change, then it will stick.
I’ll be back in December. Until then.
All the best
Simon