The usage game
The usage game
Catering to perverts
It would be rational to expect users of works on grammar and usage to want to be treated like adults, and given authoritative information to help make their minds up about controversial points of Standard English. In reality it doesn’t seem that way: the evidence suggests that they want to be berated and dominated, or even humiliated and disciplined. Judgemental compilations of fiercely stated but unmotivated prohibitions far outsell careful scholarship on usage. Usage guide authors face a dilemma: to go along with the public’s desires for harsh rulings seems like pandering to a masochistic perversion; yet offering evidence to refute false notions of correctness often leads to charges of lowering standards and promoting anarchy. The linguist who wants to avoid both horns of the dilemma is in an awkward position. Usage books might do better to simply omit some time-worn topics rather than perpetuate grammatical myths.
Keywords: grammar style, mistakes, correctness, grammaticalness, prescriptivism, masochism
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