{"id":204,"date":"2014-03-18T14:27:56","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T22:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/?p=204"},"modified":"2014-03-18T14:44:39","modified_gmt":"2014-03-18T22:44:39","slug":"dont-people-speak-english-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/dont-people-speak-english-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t People Speak English Anymore?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"TweetButton_button\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 10px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\"  data-url=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/dont-people-speak-english-anymore\/\" data-text=\"Don&#038;%238217;t People Speak English Anymore%3f\" data-lang=\"en\">Tweet<\/a><br \/>\n<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,\"script\",\"twitter-wjs\");<\/script><\/div>\n<p>I confess to being a bit of a language snob. \u00a0That is, I may make a judgement of a person&#8217;s character or intelligence based on how they speak. \u00a0Even though I often habitually use language that is informal or incorrect &#8211; what would be called colloquialisms, slang or the dreaded jargon. \u00a0I actually prefer it in speaking and in writing. \u00a0I am, however, careful not to expose myself to the potential harsh judgement of other language snobs and am on My Best Behavior in situations where I am with other language snobs or unsure of the company. \u00a0Here at the blog you will frequently see me in my rhetorical underwear. \u00a0Language snobs &#8211; don&#8217;t look!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_206\" style=\"width: 298px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/?attachment_id=206\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-206\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-206\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-206\" alt=\"You talkin' to me?\" src=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/demotivational-stop-talking-288x300.jpg\" width=\"288\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/demotivational-stop-talking-288x300.jpg 288w, https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/demotivational-stop-talking-144x150.jpg 144w, https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/demotivational-stop-talking.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 288px) 100vw, 288px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-206\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">You talkin&#8217; to me?<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s why it was with interest that I read <a href=\"http:\/\/korystamper.wordpress.com\/2014\/02\/25\/in-defense-of-talking-funny\/\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;In Defense of Talking Funny&#8221;<\/a> by Kory Stamper at her blog <a href=\"http:\/\/korystamper.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Harmless Drudgery<\/a>. \u00a0As a defender of talking funny she has some cred (see what I did there?) since she is a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lexicographer\" target=\"_blank\">lexicographer<\/a> at Merriam-Webster. \u00a0I may e-mail her and ask if she gets to carry a badge or something. \u00a0But I digress. \u00a0In reading her article she gave a name to the practice of changing how we speak in different situations. \u00a0In those instances what we are doing is changing dialects, a practice she refers to as &#8220;code-switching&#8221;. \u00a0But what is a dialect? \u00a0I will quote the lexicographer&#8217;s explanation of what makes a dialect:<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>To get technical, dialects are varieties of a language that have their own set of speakers with their own vocabulary, grammatical rules, and accent, and they can be regional, socioeconomic, ethnic, \u00a0tonal, and even a combination thereof.\u00a0American English has eight major dialects\u2013or 24, or hundreds, depending on who you ask and what they define as a \u201cdialect.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;\">So languages are made up of dialects and English is no different, and the casual language I have adopted is a dialect. \u00a0I don&#8217;t know where it came from, I&#8217;d like to believe I invented it myself. \u00a0MikeSpeak. \u00a0Truth is it&#8217;s probably local and something I have learned. \u00a0Also, it turns out most of us don&#8217;t just speak a dialect, but switch between several depending on the situation, which frustrates language snobs everywhere who want to know why no one can speak english anymore. \u00a0Ms. Stamper tells us that Standard English, while being a dialect in and of itself, is the language used by people with power and prestige. \u00a0OK, I get that. \u00a0When I want to appear educated, influential or powerful I will break out the Standard English lest the powerful Standard English Speakers judge me. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;\">I am a practioner and also a victim of language snobbery. \u00a0Turns out that makes me normal. \u00a0Who would have guessed that? \u00a0Me being normal, I mean. \u00a0But it also makes me human. \u00a0It is human nature for us to judge those different from us &#8211; whether it is how we speak or how we look. \u00a0And it is human nature to try and fit in. \u00a0So we keep being human. \u00a0And if people are talkin&#8217; funny it&#8217;s not the end of the world. \u00a0They&#8217;re just being people. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tweet I confess to being a bit of a language snob. \u00a0That is, I may make a judgement of a person&#8217;s character or intelligence based on how they speak. \u00a0Even though I often habitually use language that is informal or incorrect &#8211; what would be&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions\/212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}