Changing language
04/03/14 05:27
Regular readers of this blog know that I am not immune to errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation. Sometimes there are sentences that simply don’t make any sense at all because a word was left out or because an idea started out in one direction and then I became distracted as I wrote. Although I do use a spell checker on my computer and I try to be careful, there are several problems with this type of writing. The main problem is that it is unedited. I’ve spent enough time editing the writing of others to know that a second set of eyes can be good at catching mistakes.
Even very good editors can miss some mistakes. We run all of our official publications at the church through a second set of eyes before printing. The weekly bulletin and our monthly newsletter are read by two different people who are good at catching mistakes. And we still have errors that go uncaught and get printed.
A second reason for the mistakes is simply the pressure of production. I write a thousand or more words (as counted by an automatic part of the software) each day. The pressure to produce means that I need to get words on the paper. OK there is no paper involved, but you know what I mean. I accept this discipline freely and most of the time joyfully because I want to become a better writer and I know that the way one becomes a writer is to write. Getting words out and expressing them in writing helps me to move on to other parts of my day. Often those other parts involve a lot of listening. I suspect that my writing contributes to my being a better listener. But production can lead to mistakes and there are days when I make mistakes simply because I am pushing myself and not giving enough time for the process.
There are, as well, wider cultural pressures that have an impact on spelling and grammar. I am a reader and I can remember when I would read a dozen books before I would discover a mistake in spanning , grammar or punctuation. But the world of publishing has changed. Publishers are reling more and more on software to check for theses mistakes and less and less on human eyes. Human editors are expensive. Add to that the fact that most of the books I read these days do not come from major publishing houses. Far more common are books that are self-published. Many self-publishers forego the paid editor simply because of the cost. Last night I was reading a well-written book and finding a small error about once a chapter. And the chapters are short in this book.
Beyond that, the use of standardized spelling rules is fading in our culture. With the advent of instant communication, text messaging, tweeting and other social media spelling is not a high priority. In fact there is a large set of accepted alternate spellings that delete letters to save on character count. A capital U replaces you. A capital R replaces are. But R can also mean other things as in ROFL - notice that they even leave out the article “the.”
These ways of communication are having an impact on the use of language in our culture. Spelling is no longer a subject taught in elementary schools. Actually there is still a lot of spelling being taught, it is, however, taught in context in the midst of other language arts. And just as calculators are used in school for mathematical manipulations that we did in our heads or on paper, so too computers with spell checkers are being used at the earliest levels of teaching and learning.
The practice of standardized spelling had a relatively brief career in the English language. The advent of the printing press made it possible to work toward standardized spelling and the Authorized King James Version of the Bible, first printed in 1611 included an attempt to set the standards of spelling for the language. Anyone reading the King James version these days will notice that the way we use language in our speech has changed considerably since 1611.
Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1755 wasn’t the first dictionary ever published, but was one of the most influential dictionaries in terms of producing standardized spelling. It was almost 175 years later when the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was completed. Johnson’s Dictionary was pretty much considered the standard for that period of time. Johnson’s Dictionary also included a basic grammar and a bit of the history of the language as well.
Even if we go back to before Johnson’s Dictionary to the publication of the King James version of the bible as the start of standardized spelling, that is really only a little over 400 years. If what we are witnessing culturally is the end of standardized spelling, it will be a tiny blip in the history of humanity and our languages. Of course most of my life occurs within that blip, which adds to its significance from my point of view. Furthermore, I am not convinced that we have come to the end of standardized spelling and grammar. It is possible that the evolution of the language, like so many other things, is accelerating and change is coming so fast that it seems to be totally out of control. That rapid pace of change might itself be a bubble and a season of less change in language may be on the horizon. It certainly appears that English is going to emerge as one of the most common languages on the planet. With China embracing English as a second language for nearly all of its people, the influence of other languages is guaranteed to continue to influence the English vocabulary, spelling and grammar. It is clear that other word orders will emerge as acceptable in our language.
Maybe what I call mistakes are the wave of the future. I am able to read the book and quite frankly am more bothered by the choice of words than I am by the mistakes in spelling and grammar. If we are going to have a standardized language, there are a few words that I’d like to have left out. Cursing that once was considered unacceptable in polite society has made its way into the spoken language and now is appearing in print with more frequency.
So, I apologize for the errors in this blog. I’m solely responsible for them. As for the expletives? They won’t find a regular place in my blog for many years to come.
Even very good editors can miss some mistakes. We run all of our official publications at the church through a second set of eyes before printing. The weekly bulletin and our monthly newsletter are read by two different people who are good at catching mistakes. And we still have errors that go uncaught and get printed.
A second reason for the mistakes is simply the pressure of production. I write a thousand or more words (as counted by an automatic part of the software) each day. The pressure to produce means that I need to get words on the paper. OK there is no paper involved, but you know what I mean. I accept this discipline freely and most of the time joyfully because I want to become a better writer and I know that the way one becomes a writer is to write. Getting words out and expressing them in writing helps me to move on to other parts of my day. Often those other parts involve a lot of listening. I suspect that my writing contributes to my being a better listener. But production can lead to mistakes and there are days when I make mistakes simply because I am pushing myself and not giving enough time for the process.
There are, as well, wider cultural pressures that have an impact on spelling and grammar. I am a reader and I can remember when I would read a dozen books before I would discover a mistake in spanning , grammar or punctuation. But the world of publishing has changed. Publishers are reling more and more on software to check for theses mistakes and less and less on human eyes. Human editors are expensive. Add to that the fact that most of the books I read these days do not come from major publishing houses. Far more common are books that are self-published. Many self-publishers forego the paid editor simply because of the cost. Last night I was reading a well-written book and finding a small error about once a chapter. And the chapters are short in this book.
Beyond that, the use of standardized spelling rules is fading in our culture. With the advent of instant communication, text messaging, tweeting and other social media spelling is not a high priority. In fact there is a large set of accepted alternate spellings that delete letters to save on character count. A capital U replaces you. A capital R replaces are. But R can also mean other things as in ROFL - notice that they even leave out the article “the.”
These ways of communication are having an impact on the use of language in our culture. Spelling is no longer a subject taught in elementary schools. Actually there is still a lot of spelling being taught, it is, however, taught in context in the midst of other language arts. And just as calculators are used in school for mathematical manipulations that we did in our heads or on paper, so too computers with spell checkers are being used at the earliest levels of teaching and learning.
The practice of standardized spelling had a relatively brief career in the English language. The advent of the printing press made it possible to work toward standardized spelling and the Authorized King James Version of the Bible, first printed in 1611 included an attempt to set the standards of spelling for the language. Anyone reading the King James version these days will notice that the way we use language in our speech has changed considerably since 1611.
Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1755 wasn’t the first dictionary ever published, but was one of the most influential dictionaries in terms of producing standardized spelling. It was almost 175 years later when the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was completed. Johnson’s Dictionary was pretty much considered the standard for that period of time. Johnson’s Dictionary also included a basic grammar and a bit of the history of the language as well.
Even if we go back to before Johnson’s Dictionary to the publication of the King James version of the bible as the start of standardized spelling, that is really only a little over 400 years. If what we are witnessing culturally is the end of standardized spelling, it will be a tiny blip in the history of humanity and our languages. Of course most of my life occurs within that blip, which adds to its significance from my point of view. Furthermore, I am not convinced that we have come to the end of standardized spelling and grammar. It is possible that the evolution of the language, like so many other things, is accelerating and change is coming so fast that it seems to be totally out of control. That rapid pace of change might itself be a bubble and a season of less change in language may be on the horizon. It certainly appears that English is going to emerge as one of the most common languages on the planet. With China embracing English as a second language for nearly all of its people, the influence of other languages is guaranteed to continue to influence the English vocabulary, spelling and grammar. It is clear that other word orders will emerge as acceptable in our language.
Maybe what I call mistakes are the wave of the future. I am able to read the book and quite frankly am more bothered by the choice of words than I am by the mistakes in spelling and grammar. If we are going to have a standardized language, there are a few words that I’d like to have left out. Cursing that once was considered unacceptable in polite society has made its way into the spoken language and now is appearing in print with more frequency.
So, I apologize for the errors in this blog. I’m solely responsible for them. As for the expletives? They won’t find a regular place in my blog for many years to come.