New Sayings
July 8, 2025
Am I the only person who shouts at the television when she sees a sign on an advertisement that says 'Invite Only'? (INVITATION Grrr!) Or grinds her teeth every time someone says 'gifting' instead of 'giving'?
There are so many more important things to get red in the face about, such as cuts to adult learning classes, artificial intelligence ripping off writers' work, online piracy, and books being banned from libraries and schools in countries that should know better. Why does the misuse of words irritate me so much?
After all, we all make up words (don't we?) for everything from silly songs for our children to nicknames for our other halves. We deliberately use bad grammar when we're messing about, such as 'we woz 'ere' or 'I is idiot'. William Shakespeare made up words and new ways of saying things in virtually every play he wrote, if not all of them, and it never did his career any harm. There's no record of anyone throwing rotten veg at the stage and yelling: "There's no such word as 'fardles!" during Hamlet's soliloquy. James Joyce deliberately broke the rules of standard English, and while he was vilified by the arbiters of taste at the time, his work is now hailed as that of a groundbreaking genius.
I think that it's the deliberate rule-breaking that is the key. Joyce had a purpose in mind when he created new words or ways of writing. All too often, those who say 'different to' instead of 'different from' or 'less' instead of 'fewer' think they are absolutely correct. What is more, they will incorrectly correct the right usage.
As I have written here previously, language is a living thing, and changes are inevitable. The things I complain about now, will no doubt soon become standard, so I should get used to it, especially as these changes when used in dialogue help to build a character's identity e.g. their age, class, education etc.. Maybe instead of shouting at the TV, I should learn how to make the most of them.
Yours sincerely–I mean, best regards,
Karla
P.S. Don't forget, you can download Discord's Child and Artists & Liars FREE in the Smashwords Summer-Winter Sale at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ksdearsley
There are so many more important things to get red in the face about, such as cuts to adult learning classes, artificial intelligence ripping off writers' work, online piracy, and books being banned from libraries and schools in countries that should know better. Why does the misuse of words irritate me so much?
After all, we all make up words (don't we?) for everything from silly songs for our children to nicknames for our other halves. We deliberately use bad grammar when we're messing about, such as 'we woz 'ere' or 'I is idiot'. William Shakespeare made up words and new ways of saying things in virtually every play he wrote, if not all of them, and it never did his career any harm. There's no record of anyone throwing rotten veg at the stage and yelling: "There's no such word as 'fardles!" during Hamlet's soliloquy. James Joyce deliberately broke the rules of standard English, and while he was vilified by the arbiters of taste at the time, his work is now hailed as that of a groundbreaking genius.
I think that it's the deliberate rule-breaking that is the key. Joyce had a purpose in mind when he created new words or ways of writing. All too often, those who say 'different to' instead of 'different from' or 'less' instead of 'fewer' think they are absolutely correct. What is more, they will incorrectly correct the right usage.
As I have written here previously, language is a living thing, and changes are inevitable. The things I complain about now, will no doubt soon become standard, so I should get used to it, especially as these changes when used in dialogue help to build a character's identity e.g. their age, class, education etc.. Maybe instead of shouting at the TV, I should learn how to make the most of them.
Yours sincerely–I mean, best regards,
Karla
P.S. Don't forget, you can download Discord's Child and Artists & Liars FREE in the Smashwords Summer-Winter Sale at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ksdearsley
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Linguistics
