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The Death of the English Language PDF Print E-mail
Written by Rondi   
Thursday, 23 September 2010 08:46

The English language, which arose from humble Anglo-Saxon roots to become the lingua franca of 600 million people worldwide and the dominant lexicon of international discourse, is dead. It succumbed last month at the age of 1,617 after a long illness. It is survived by an ignominiously diminished form of itself.

The end came quietly on Aug. 21 on the letters page of The Washington Post. A reader castigated the newspaper for having written that Sasha Obama was the "youngest" daughter of the president and first lady, rather than their "younger" daughter. In so doing, however, the letter writer called the first couple the "Obama's." This, too, was published, constituting an illiterate proofreading of an illiterate criticism of an illiteracy. Moments later, already severely weakened, English died of shame.

(Emphasis mine.) That, in particular, drives me bonkers. How dumb can people be? If you are pluralizing a family name, who on earth would you put an apostrophe in there? Many other examples of illiteracy -- and unbelievable stupidity -- can be found in this article.

Last Updated on Thursday, 23 September 2010 08:50
 

Comments  

 
0 #1 Thermblog 2010-09-23 11:55
I especially enjoyed what the author said about, "reach out to."

Whenever I hear that, I too want reach out ... and strangle. (Obama especially.)
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