Amglish In, Like, Ten Easy Lessons_ A Celebration of the New World Lingo - Arthur E. Rowse [1]
By the time my own kids went to public school in Washington, D.C., in the 1960s, “language arts” were beginning to supplant the much-despised classes in grammar, spelling, and penmanship in some schools, though not yet in our neighborhood school. In fact, unknown to me at the time, the main English teachers’ association of the country officially condemned separate classes in grammar in 1963, the all-time peak year for verbal SAT scores. I suspect that not many parents knew that “grammar” had become a dirty word.
In the next few decades, I became increasingly shocked at the failure of many Americans—at all levels of society—to absorb the basic fundamentals of their native language. My shock turned into disdain, especially for well-educated people who apparently didn’t know the difference between lay and lie, that and which, and other fine points of proper English such as differentiating between subjective pronouns and objective ones.
But I had a linguistic epiphany after George W. Bush became president in 2000. Here was a budding world leader, a man of great privilege enhanced by education at prestigious schools, who appeared woefully unable to mouth a simple sentence without violating at least four or five basic precepts of English. At first, I marveled at how blasé Americans were about choosing a leader with such a gross deficiency in his mother tongue.
I joined millions of other people around the world snickering at the way the nation’s most prominent bushwhacker shredded the language in such funny ways. It was during one of those laugh-ins I finally realized, languagewise, here was a politician who did not speak much differently from other Americans, including at times my friends, associates, and myself.
It also began to strike me that nobody can be a perfect master of English. Indeed, it is an impossibility because of the language’s many mysteries and defects. We all make errors when using our native language, regardless of our education.
I began to realize that language errors have become an integral part of the current linguistic upheaval. Even more interesting are the many efforts to be original. New words and phrases are bubbling up at a furious pace, either by accident or design. And those who are not innovators help the process by passing along anything interesting that they encounter. The whole exercise is either a delight or a continuing disaster, depending on your point of view.
I chose the positive approach and became taken in by the charms of informal English, especially the neologisms, the grammatical variations, the innovative texting, the flood of acronyms, the smiley faces, and the disappearance of capital letters and punctuation. I also realized that there is nothing anyone can do to stop language from constantly changing.
The growing informality of American English mirrors what is happening to society itself. Just as most people are now choosing casual clothing, they are also becoming informal with language. It has become the in-way to bond with friends and associates while keeping pace with the latest trends.
I began to catch some of George W’s joviality with language and to recognize the camaraderie and, yes, even excitement that goes with using language in new, more interesting, more enjoyable, more imaginative ways.
I also realized that it was no longer teachers and lexicographers who were shaping language. It was the great masses of ordinary people, especially young musicians, humorists, writers, and general dissidents who were leading the way. The process is a constant, natural churning that no language police or remedial teachers can alter.
Suddenly, it seems, almost everybody is speaking and writing more freely and enjoying it more. Many of the rules and standards that have served for more than four centuries are quietly being shelved