Ruphus -> RE: Further Evidence of Decline in English Language Standards (Sep. 26 2019 22:16:06)
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ORIGINAL: Piwin I just finished reading Une langue venue d'ailleurs by Akira Mizubayashi. The author is a Japanese academic who began studying French at age 19 and now writes exclusively in French (rather well I might add). He describes how French was a breath of fresh air for him, a way out of the highly codified linguistic system of his own country, a way out of what he called his own "linguistic prison". I found his book rather intriguing, since my own impression is that French, at least in literature, is almost lethally rigid, stuffy to the point of asphyxiation. The preservation of certain standards has all but crushed creativity. Amongst contemporary authors, those who don't follow those standards are painful to read, and those who do fail to connect in any real way with the reader. Only a handful manage to navigate those waters. Matter of perspective, I suppose. Some are in rigid structures and want more flexibility, some are in flexible structures and want more rigidity. So goes it. Following French literature debates, as a writer (now seeking writer´s asylum abroad from the blocked German market) I am all in envy. Over there still exists idealism with publishing folks who do support the special subject, avantgarde and intelligentsia, whereas in Germany it prostitutes to a self-generated market demand for infantile and irrelevant / superficial context. In the same time the oh so PC public fraction is enforcing once again irrelevant language bending like generating all the common idioms like for relating and professionals (like say “someone, respective, carpenter, miller” etc.) which traditionally are presented as male in female form too, in order to honor the other gender. So silly, if not cynical, whilst in practice females are still undervalued and underpaid. Superflous BS contextually, while never getting tired of messing up the once most precise language in diverse ways (starting the predetermined altering campaign with a stupid reform, instigated by publishing lobbyists who by that and common bribe succeeded with initiating paying reprint of dictionaries and school books). We are talking about a new age of pseudo PC disease (in all fields / not just language) that should be well described as trendy “empty significance”. Which again is not to say that non-binaries couldn´t or shouldn´t be having their own article, but that using “they” for a single person other than for your old-fashioned Royal Highness is evidently stupid. Yours truly for one is all with the TO in regard of this topic. Messing up a language without the backing of a lasting popular usus is a cultural nonsense and crime. More so when diluting semantics. Precise and / or lyrical semantic ways are the treasure of (a) language. Cadgers and fools should stay away from it.
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