[Leica] RE: While it is happening (B. D. Colen)writing goingdwnhll

[robertmeier at usjet.net (robertmeier@usjet.net)]

> "Proper" has always fluctuated and changed. What has been unacceptable
> grammar and usage at one time become acceptable at another.
>
> The bigger issue has to do with the overall state of written
> communications by and between individuals. And that is what I believe
> has declined, even as the availability of Email and text messaging as
> greatly increased the quantity of such communications.
>
> B. D.


B.D.--

Yes, that's absolutely right on both points.  What is acceptable in the
language is always changing, albeit slowly.   That is part and parcel of
being a living language, although since the written language became more
widespread following the introduction of printing 500+ years ago, the rate
of change has slowed down.  TV and radio broadcasting have also been a
conservative factor, slowing down the changes going on in the language by
presenting a national standard for pronunciation.

On your second point, the decline of the level of written communications, I
have seen a very clear example of this.   My wife has been researching the
Civil War letters of her great grandfather.   They are beautifully written
in complex, balanced sentences, very precisely describing and explaining
what he saw and experienced.  A very formal level of diction that is just
not seen in writing today.  He was an educated man, but that meant high
school and, in his case, a year in the seminary before going off to war.
His skills in writing were not unusual for the 1860's.

Bob