A Good Example of a Bad Trend

2btotallyliterate.org

Their is a good example of a bad trend in language, ─ Huh! Who cares anyway? Everyone knows that their is plural. So when this word is used in a singular sense, flout the Rules of English and say what you have to say without being stilted, dare I say pedantic? Check this: Everyone stood up and placed their hand on their heart as The Star Spangled Banner played.

Social pressure is so strong that we must conform to vernacular norms. (But don't be in the habit of using big words like vernacular because, in point of fact, everyone will think their vocabulary is being tested.) Might we not replace all for everyone in the sentence above without anyone taking offense? Or, could we not say men, women and children stood up . . . and get the same effect? In either case the Rules of English would not be violated.

In conversation we can get by with slovenly speech, but why do we want to just get by with it? Speech is a reflection of thought! There is no benefit of being slovenly, lest it's to conform to the degenerative norm. Should we not endeavor to buck the statistical norm to keep it from dropping even further?

Their, a homophone, sharing the same pronunciation as but having a different spelling and meaning from there and they’re, taxes beginning students enough, let alone foreigners. And when their is heard misused over and over again, even by otherwise intelligent people, students get the notion that grammar is not so important. Anything goes! “It’s not what I wrote, or said” the student says “it’s what I meant.” Of course, the reader should be able to intuit the meaning, lest they [sic] be dumb. Teachers, especially impressionable young graduates with a general college degree, are no doubt greatly influenced by the same sources, thus, apt to set standards so low that no expression of thought, no matter how feeble or ineffective, is wrong —well, so wrong as to flunk.

Contrary to the present trend, language should always be used intelligently and vigilantly guarded against abuse. If so, clear thinking would govern all are human endeavors, and it would make for a more harmonious world, or at least a less bellicose one. To this end, everyone has a duty to do his utmost to debunk and dismiss the omnipresent, blatant, utter nonsense heard ad nauseum over the airwaves around the clock.

Thanks for cogitating! Oh! Incidentally, the more you think, as you are likely well aware, the less painful it becomes! Spread the word — our friends are watching television thinking they're actually thinking!