In case you hadn’t noticed, language is very important to me. It matters to me that we choose words that are beautiful, juicy, supple over those that are boring or ugly or dead. That we all do our bit to enrich our communal vocabulary and not diminish it. That we handle words with respect and confidence and therefore, make it our responsibility to get our grammar and spelling right.
It’s just occurred to me that in these respects I think of language as our birthright and our trust, similar to the way the farmer in the ABC promo thinks of his soil, and environmentalists think of the planet. We have a duty to look after it, to tend it, to nourish it.
So it drives me crazy when I hear people mixing up words like “disinterested” and “uninterested”, or taking a stab in the dark about when to use “it’s” and when to use “its”, or spelling “definitely” as “definately”, or thinking “a lot” is one word, or that “irregardless” is any kind of word.
Some bloopers are quite funny like the one I pointed out to The Age a few months ago: “It’s ‘by dint’, not ‘by dent’ “. And like the one that’s just been born in the last few weeks where people say things like, “He’s self-determining his course” or “I’m self-analysing myself”. They seem to be suffering a dreadful loss of confidence in their pronouns.
Mostly, however, the neglect and abuse of language makes me crazy.
I really like this post. I make many mistakes but when I hear (in your words) words that are beautiful, juicy, supple I feel that my vocabulary is getting enriched.
Thanks so much. That’s how I feel too: like my vocabulary (and my brain, my being) is getting enriched.