Thursday, May 1, 2014

Not set in stone

I used to think that Strunk and White
On grammar, had the rules just right;
In fact, The Elements of Style
Has been like gold, for quite a while.

The book tells you the "what" and "how"
Good language usage should allow,
But living language has a way
Of changing almost every day.

New forms are born, and do their part;
Old forms decline, when new ones start,
And sometimes, we may even see
Old forms regain their currency.

I think that Messieurs Strunk and White
Worked hard to try to do it right.
Like weather, language, rain or shine,
Insists on changing all the time.

3 comments:

  1. With the advances in technology, texting, twittering, there has been an exponential growth in language.

    I love it.

    XO
    WWW

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  2. I love SOME of it. Just now, some idiot began his list with "Firstly," Aargh.

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  3. S&W is not sacrosanct. I still have my dad's copy with HIS corrections inked in red (take *that,* ye self-proclaimed arbiters of style!). Prescriptive tomes and grammar-checking software notwithstanding, well-crafted prose will always be more art than science.

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