Is the attempt by the Queen’s English Society to create an Academy of English, on the model of the Académie Française, both welcome and long overdue? Gerald Warner thinks we need an authoritative body to maintain the purity and beauty of the English language, given the falling standards of its use around the world. I'm more skeptical and not so sure what good any of this would do. I do remember priding myself on the idea that the Anglophone countries never had such a top-down academy to instruct the masses on proper grammar, spelling or punctuation. I wish we could all speak the Queen's English, but the reality is that most mother tongue English speakers live outside the UK, led by the U.S.(251 million speakers), India (125 million), Nigeria (79 million) and only then Great Britain (60 million), Philippines (49 million), English-speaking Canada (25 million), Australia (18 million)....the language is perhaps too widely dispersed and varied to foster universal standards. The famed "Immortals" of the French Academy are a dying breed - I do not know if this is a model worthy of imitation in the English-speaking world.
An Academy will not stop the falling of the "Queen's English" (we have one Spanish Academy and people do not speak a proper Spanish anyway).
ReplyDeleteThis blog is shameful. It's time we free Canada from the opressive rule of some woman in another country across the ocean - in a castle!!
ReplyDelete"I'm more skeptical". Don't you mean 'sceptical'?
ReplyDeleteI think it would be worth a try... especially since I can't bear the thought of repeating "like" every second word becoming seen as properly grammatical in the future. That sentence most likely wasn't properly grammatical either ;)
ReplyDelete@Anon How is the Queen "oppressing" you, or even "ruling" you? Would you prefer to have a politician who would abuse the position of Head of State to achieve their own political ends - at the people's expense? The Queen of Canada cares deeply for her people, and her very being there keeps power-hungry politicians in line. Look at the link at the top "Saved By the Crown: What Monarchs offer modern democracy" to learn how having a constitutional monarch can safeguard democracy in a way that is just not possible in a republic.
It is truly sad how proper usage is falling by the wayside. Language is constantly morphing, but there are still rules! The thing that hurts my ears the most is the way people use 'impact' (or similar) to make themselves sound intelligent - i.e. impactfully.
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