atw: Re: Youse
- From: "Rebecca Caldwell" <rebecca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 14:10:16 +0800
Long words sounding 'nicer' doesn't come into my way of thinking,
sometimes, even with a simile, a different/long word just sums things up
better (to me) but that's about it.
Ha ha, I write for engineers, so you are right about writing for
audience, simple is always better in this case, but until 'youse' is
taught in schools as a second person plural, then I'll stay away. (Send
me to hell if this is already the case..)
-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Peter Martin
Sent: Tuesday, 2 February 2010 2:00 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Youse
Rebecca Caldwell wrote:
> By the way, I wasn't trying to
> discriminate or elevate the more articulate speakers over those who
are not, just an
> observation on my part.
>
Sorry, Rebecca, but it did come out that way. It's a bit circular,
isn't it ? Aren't "well spoken" ones ones that would never say
"youse"? So they're "more articulate" ? (Speak better) Ergo when
they don't say "youse" they must be right.
Cause and effect ? This is more or less the same reason given by
Norman rulers of England after 1066 in laying down rules about why
people shouldn't use Anglo Saxon words. It's why we are "supposed" not
to say "got" when it can be a perfectly good word. It's why we're
supposed to use such silly terms as "coition" and all those other
Latinate euphemisms for sex and all kinds of other functions
("micuration" ? heaven help us!) instead of precise 4 letter words that
mean exactly the same thing, but take about 4 syllables less to say it.
We (and our teachers) were conned into believing that Latinate and
French terms were good, Anglo-Saxon ones (and pigs?) bad. Long words
"sound nicer"?
Try to outlive all that. If you're writing for people who say "youse",
maybe we should think about using "youse"?
-PeterM
peterm_5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I like a man who grins when he fights. - Winston Churchill
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