Comments on: Words Words Words

By: Ophelie

Ophelie — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:35:29 +0000

Whoo! <3 ^_^

By: Ophelie

Ophelie — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:35:00 +0000

Thanks! I’d love to read your novel of a response if you feel like writing it (you could even use it as a post on your own blog)

By: Ophelie

Ophelie — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:32:15 +0000

I like having l’Académie Française because whenever I have a question about the proper way to say or write something, I can get a clear answer. All the rules are spelled out. (As a result, though, in school I had to study grammar intensely for 11 years before I was allowed to study any sort of literature.) With English, when I have a question about the language, I have a read a dozen references that each give a different answer and then I take a educated guess.

I suppose it does slow change. The French rules change all the time so the language does evolve, just not as fast as it would otherwise. Besides, with English being so dominant in the Western world, I suspect that if French weren’t protected, it would turn into almost-English pretty quickly.

By: quori

quori — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:42:03 +0000

Hey Ophelia…

/cheer

<3 you woman!!!

By: Saif

Saif — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:43:41 +0000

Man, great post.

I started to write a response but it was turning into a book so I’ll just say, great post, and I totally empathize with your point. Words can be dangerous, and while censuring things isn’t the answer, self-moderation and empathy are crucial.

By: Stubborn

Stubborn — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:50:28 +0000

Yes, English is a terrible language, full of apparent contradictions caused by the piling on of many other linguistic traditions. Our spelling is basically a joke to word-lovers world wide, and yet so many English teachers in America get very snobbish about proper grammar and spelling and so forth when in fact almost every other language is 1 letter per sound, and in English there’s at least 2 ways to make basically every sound.

That said, I’m not too sure about how I’d feel about an “English Academy” “protecting” our language, since I’m all for language changing, normalizing, and moving with the times. That’s not to say I think it’s “wrong” to have one (besides, I believe you’re in Canada, not France), but English desperately needs to evolve, so I don’t want anyone stopping it.

Once again, great post, and don’t worry about typos; language is for communicating; if you communicate your point well, nothing else really matters.

By: Ophelie

Ophelie — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:54:23 +0000

As an English teacher, you must have also been distracted by the amount of typos I made (it was very kind of you to not say anything about them). I reread my post and I have a lot of editing to do, hehe.

Thank you for your comment!

Writing genders in English is a headache! I do use “them”, because it’s the closest to the French “on” which is a genderless, vague pronoun, usually plural but can be use singular as well. Plus in French, the word “individual” is male, so if you’re talking about an individual, you can use “he”, even if the individual is female. “Person” is a female noun, so you can use “she” even if the person is male. Far more practical for writing about nondescript people.

By: Ophelie

Ophelie — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:49:22 +0000

Thanks

I scandalize many of my fellow bloggers by admitting that I don’t correct people’s vocabulary, but what matters to me is that I can be in a respectful environment, but not necessarily an always politically correct one. It also feels less weird to kick someone for being a jerk, rather than kicking them for “saying a bad word”.

By: Ophelie

Ophelie — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:45:14 +0000

Don’t delete me from Google Reader! I do update! Sometimes! ;D

Thank you (for the comment!)

By: Ophelie

Ophelie — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:44:07 +0000

What’s sad is that it’s usually people who think of themselves as hardcore. I know a few high end raiders from blogging and from twitter, they describe their guilds as very professional.

It is really annoying, trying to pug a raid and not knowing if I’ll end up with a bunch of idiots. (Though interestingly enough, LFR has been surprisingly clean, though there is the occasional person with a temper problem)