Am I a Prescriptivist?

By Daniel Miessler on March 20th, 2008: Tagged as Language

And if I am, should I be?

A prescriptivist is essentially someone who adheres to and attempts to enforce language rules as they are today. This is in contrast to a descriptivist, who evidently cares more about how language is used rather than how it should be used.

Those are very course definitions, but I think it captures the spirit.

So I think that this scale, like most, lends itself well to a balance. This is to say that you shouldn’t be too far on either side. That being said, I think my tendency is toward prescriptivism. I don’t mind that as long as I keep in mind that language is in a constant state of flux.

Thoughts?

  • http://robbycolvin.com/ Robby Colvin

    I’m probably the same: somewhere in the middle, but leaning more towards being a prescriptivist. Knowing how language is currently used is important, but current use that is just ignorant and wrong is hurting our language. I don’t see a problem with adding a verb like “google” to the dictionary or many other recent changes and additions, but common misuse of lie and lay for example is just wrong.

  • http://robbycolvin.com Robby Colvin

    I’m probably the same: somewhere in the middle, but leaning more towards being a prescriptivist. Knowing how language is currently used is important, but current use that is just ignorant and wrong is hurting our language. I don’t see a problem with adding a verb like “google” to the dictionary or many other recent changes and additions, but common misuse of lie and lay for example is just wrong.

  • http://maxolasersquad.com/ Maxo

    I think it depends on the context. If a black person says “aks”, I don’t have a problem with that in the context of day-to-day speech. If I see it in a professional oration, it makes me cringe. I try to speek clearly in my day-to-day speech, but when it comes to “Mike, Michelle, and I” I only use that when giving speeches at work or school because I think the grammarians are wrong on that, but they do dictate the professional rules.

  • http://maxolasersquad.com/ Maxo

    I think it depends on the context. If a black person says “aks”, I don’t have a problem with that in the context of day-to-day speech. If I see it in a professional oration, it makes me cringe. I try to speek clearly in my day-to-day speech, but when it comes to “Mike, Michelle, and I” I only use that when giving speeches at work or school because I think the grammarians are wrong on that, but they do dictate the professional rules.

  • anonym

    You misspelled coarse. I’m betting it’s the results of a somewhat shortsighted and prescriptivist spellchecker. It could also be argued that ” it captures the spirit.”, should be ” they capture the spirit.”.

    Cheers!

  • anonym

    You misspelled coarse. I’m betting it’s the results of a somewhat shortsighted and prescriptivist spellchecker. It could also be argued that ” it captures the spirit.”, should be ” they capture the spirit.”.

    Cheers!


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