I’ve started reading a book called “Says Who? A Kinder, Funner* Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words” by American linguist Anne Curzan.
As the title suggests, the book discusses the controversial topic of word usage in the English language. I’ve only read the first two chapters so far, but they’ve given me a lot of food for thought. So I’d like to share my review.
The author identifies two "ideological" groups: (a) the ‘grammandos’ (conservative people—in linguistic terms—that are less inclined to accept changes and that make subjective, inconsistent judgments based on what they feel is right and/or aesthetically pleasing) and (b) the ‘wordies’ (those who simply delight in observing how and why the language evolves and support their claims with data).
My definition of wordie, though simplistic, is quite close to the original. As I read the book, I realized I already know an esteemed wordie: Dr. Geoff Lindsey. He makes well-researched, thought-provoking YouTube videos about language trends. You should check him out!
Although the author seems analytical and objective to me, I doubt a hardcore grammando would agree. They’re more likely to call her a patronizing wordie that wants to lecture others.
At any rate, she raises other interesting points worthy of discussion. First, time is on the wordies’ side. Data shows that the acceptability of a word considered “unacceptable” increases over time. She references the yearly poll results of the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary from about the 1960s to 2018 as her source (if I recall the years correctly). Secondly, words cannot be fundamentally wrong or right. Usage labels such as ‘nonstandard’, ‘slang’, ‘vulgar’, ‘informal’, and ‘formal’ aren’t inherent characteristics of a word. In fact, these labels are descriptive, not prescriptive. To quote the author, “[debates about words] are almost never about words—they’re about people and prejudice, about social and political issues, and about power.”
I’d love to hear your opinions!
* ‘funner’ is written this way in the book title. If you’re cranky about it, please don’t take it out on me.
What other way is there to spell funner?
I don't see how anyone with any linguistic instinct whatsoever could imply that there are words that are inherently slang, vulgar, or both vulgar and slang, for instance. And those designations are descriptive and prescriptive because if the word queef, for instance, doesn't come with a descriptive, prescriptive warning, the result could potentially be disastrous for the person deciding to use it in the place of its proper medical term in a medical conference, for example.
Funner is a non-standard word and most people (at least I think) would correct it to more fun. By the way, to mark a mistake you've made intentionally or because you're quoting someone else who made the mistake, you can write [sic] after it.
I actually use funner all the time, but my point is that that's the only way to spell it.
OK... I didn't realize there was a difference in meaning between fun and funny 😅 So I assumed funnier was the standard comparative for fun/funny. I think I'll start using funner now to impress my friends.
You all make very convicing arguments. Well, the truth is that I don't have the linguistic tools to debate with you all—what the hell is a queef😄?
Irregardless (see what I did there?😅), I'll explain the "controversy" surrounding 'funner' in my next post. Stay tuned, folks!
@Lokus As adjectives, fun and funny mean two different things, but I won’t ruin Simo’s next post.
I have an American friend whose name is Gay. When she was born, that meant "joy", but now the word has totally different meaning. I think languages are alive and changing all the time. Today, it might be wrong, but in the future when majority people will start using the way, it will be correct. The image made me laugh, lol. There are so many grammar Natis among language learners.
My next-door neighbor is a woman named Gay 👍🏼🤩 it still means Joy — that hasn’t changed. It’s just used more with the other meaning because the other meaning stigmatized it and eclipsed it.