The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #163204   Message #3891212
Posted By: Steve Shaw
29-Nov-17 - 01:04 PM
Thread Name: We must stop correcting grammar
Subject: RE: We must stop correcting grammar
Yes, we hear that one here ad nauseum. Heheh...

"Nauseum" is just an ignorant blunder, but we have to be careful when discussing usage. Hanging on for dear life to a cherished meaning when so many around you are using the word differently is futile and puts you in danger of becoming a grammar cop and looking like a twit. It's fine to say that you're feeling gay today but unless you deliberately want to sound facetious you'd sound a bit daft. In writing, so many people write "alright" these days. It does me brain in, but there's no point arguing about it any more (anymore). I think most dictionaries have included it as standard English in some usage contexts (and dictionaries there to reflect, not judge). Some time (sometime) in the future we may (might) be looking back on all this, lamenting the degradation of the language. But the language will (er, not shall) continue to evolve regardless (irregardless - arrgh!) it's what people actually say and write what (wot, which, that) matters most.

And should there be a full stop outside that final bracket? I've never quite worked that one out!