[etni] Are English teachers here to protect the English language?
- From: "Ask Etni" <ask@xxxxxxxx>
- To: <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2006 08:14:57 +0200
No place for yinz in the lexicon
Pittsburg Tribune-Review - July 8, 2006
Yinz will have to wait.
Oxford University Press and Merriam-Webster, publishers of two of the most
widely used dictionaries, recently reviewed thousands of words and about 100
new entries will be included in their latest editions.
Some might believe that those -- including yada yada, wazoo, unibrow and
freakazoid -- infantilize (another newbie) the English language.
That might be true, said professor Lawrence Gaichas, chair of the classics
department at Duquesne University. But the words symbolize the "living"
English language, he said.
"Some would say it's the evolution and the deterioration of the language,"
Gaichas said. "You can say that, but it does not mean the dictionary should
not (include them).
"(Dictionaries) basically are lists saying here's what's out there."
Most of the new words are slang. Others are vulgar and cannot be printed
here.
"Linguists really take a different point of view on slang than, I would say,
most English teachers," said Howard Selekman, chairman of the language arts
department at Dorseyville Middle School in the Fox Chapel Area School
District. Selekman has extensively studied linguistics and was named
Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year in 1990.
"Most English teachers have this feeling that they are there to protect the
English language and slow down the influence of negative forces, (to) which
language scientists would say, 'That's impossible.'"
(To read the whole article, go to -
http://www.etni.org/news/yinz_lexicon.htm )
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