Comments on: Ode to a Prescriptivist

By: To be or not to be [an obsessive-compulsive grammarian]Tiffany Markman | Tiffany Markman

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 13:29:21 +0000

[...] rather long post was prompted by an entry on the Oxford University Press blog, in which Alexandra D’Arcy writes about her interest in language usage and how it was shaped by, but contrasts with, her [...]

By: Eunice English

Eunice English — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:40:56 +0000

My Grandma D’Arcy allowed herself to be called Grandma, but in every other point she was just the same as yours. My Grandma was a Eunson before marriage, but it must have been generational, because we were often corrected on grammer by Grandma. Manners were also taught and we had to ask to leave the table. She was a great Grandmother though, clever at crochet, which she taught me. I too worked in a linguistics centre, and but my grammer and good English have suffered since I discovered the internet, but since my name is Eunice English, I guess all my English is good English! Best wishes, Eunice

By: Descriptivism vs. prescriptivism: War is over (if you want it) « Sentence first

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:06:59 +0000

By: February Links « Literal-Minded

February Links « Literal-Minded — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:20:55 +0000

[...] Finally, sociolinguist Alexandra D’Arcy has begun a monthly column at the Oxford University Press blog. D’Arcy talks about her grandmother: “When my History of the English Language professor observed that the distinction between lay and lie was being lost among younger speakers (good luck asking a twenty-year-old to run the paradigms), I had the poor enough judgment to share this insight with Grandmother. … I might as well have told her that going out in public without a bra had become the vogue.” Read the rest of the story here. [...]

By: The Ridger

The Ridger — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:31:52 +0000

“a world in which our communicative intersections are controlled with traffic lights” is all well and good, but too many people try to demand we all drive sedans, as well.

Long live diversity.

By: Craig Sones-Cornell

Craig Sones-Cornell — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:24:20 +0000

I have a fond sweetness for the true believers of all stripes including Grandmother, the usage purist, the prescriptivist, or as John Foster Wallace describes in a word I love to apply to myself when I am channeling Grandmother’s finger wagging energy, the snoot.

As a dyslexic myself and former special education teacher in inner city American classrooms, I also have the skill to extract meaning from letters on the page strung together in the most imaginative patterns of personal, cultural, and sociological diversity and idiosyncracy. It was fun for me to sit with an “essay” or letter and first attempt to extract meaning on my own and then sit with the author to try to understand what was intended and then how it might be expressed so that others might more easily get it.

And so I guess the marriage of the longing for a world in which our communicative intersections are controlled with traffic lights as well as roaring and careening in wide open spaces on a sandy desert are both very strong. I guess context is so very important and I have a certain respect and love for it all in me and others.

So long live both snootiness and abandon, Nana and Granddaughter.

By: Laurel Brinton

Laurel Brinton — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:57:30 +0000

As the UBC professor mentioned in this posting, I will add that not only is the distinction between “lie” and “lay” BEING lost, it IS lost!
And, no, Grandmother didn’t call me.

By: QMlinguist

QMlinguist — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:09:30 +0000

Do you mean pedant-points? Unless *pendant*-points are awarded for dangling-participle alerts…

By: mollymooly

mollymooly — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:43:52 +0000

“Even as a toddler Grandmother was always Grandmother”

Even as a toddler Grandmother would have found fault with that phrasing.

Woo-hoo! I award myself five pendant-points!