English Pedantry
Bad English on the web annoys me. Which is all very unfortunate as there's so much of it out there. Vox isn't immune to this. I've just noticed that they consistantly spell "neighbourhood" without the "u". I suppose I should make an exception as they're American and therefore can't be expected to use proper English - but it would be nice to have the option to have it spelt correctly.
I've also seen one of my pet English peeves. Vox members can invite friends to join Vox. In English something that you send to someone else inviting them to do something is called an "invitation". In internet English that is often abbreviated to an "invite". Vox do that. I have two "invites" that I can give to friends. That's wrong. The noun is "invitation"; "invite" is a verb. I often see a similar problem with "install" and "installation".
But I realise I'm fighting a losing battle here. I'm the King Canute of English pedantry.
Comments
but language changes so much you can't just say that there even is a "proper" english... a hundred years ago words meant different things than they do today... try reading Beowulf or Chaucer or anything else from the medieval time period and you won't even recognize it as english... yes... the internet is changing the language (for instance it was the internet that made me use ellipses (ellipsi?) instead of any other form of punctuation) in the same way Noah Webster changed the language, and in the same way the Depression changed the language... yes a lot of it sucks... but i think it's best to go with it... or at least thats my take
We Americans do that just to confound you. Neighborhood, flavor, color... all good and proper to us. Those extra "u"'s just get in the way and waste our valuable time. ;)
Actually, if I had my druthers (another word we lovingly mangled... er, crafted), I would always use the extra english "u" because it just looks nicer to me. But then everybody would call me a British poser. You can't win in a global society.
I'm with you on the "invite" and "install" thing though. That is bastardized use of the language on either side of the Atlantic.
bigg_andy:
You're right, of course. English is constantly changing and as communication media get faster (books, TV and now the internet) that rate of change increases. I just bothers me that we're heading towards an "anything goes" language where the complexity, subtlety and beauty of the English language is lost.
jimmyether:
"BastardiZed" - you did that on purpose, didn't you? :-)
Dave,
It was my patriotic duty as an American. ;)
big_andy,
Oh my, I love my ellipses... I know it's wrong... but I just can't stop... it feels so right... ... ...