Brian,
Can I just say that it is an absolute pleasure and joy to read your posts?
I have thoroughly enjoyed each one of your 802 posts, and, no doubt will enjoy the rest to come.
Thank you, sir.
Regards,
Humayun
P.S. If there is one thing that really annoys me, as far as language is concerned, it is the use of the term^ "tweet(s)" in reference to the vermin that is Tw*tt*r.
^ I use the word "term", loosely.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Miaplacidus
A meditation on the benefits of pedantry...
I suspect that somewhere in here we are talking about respect.
Do we occupy a middle ground between divinity and beast? If so, surely it is through our capacity for abstract thinking. We’re pretty good at manipulating things, but what makes us special is our particular talent for manipulating symbols. People here have made the point that computer programming is very unforgiving of misspellings and poor syntax. So, too, is mathematics. So, too, I imagine, are the calculations that engineers use to design buildings and build bridges. If my interlocutor is imprecise in spelling and grammar, what else am I to deduce but that they are lazy and uncaring, and perhaps that I ought not to trust whatever they build with the language? If I receive a letter written in crayon and besmirched by dirt, it is difficult to believe I am respected. (On the other hand, if it comes from a 5 year old I might be delighted.) What does it say about someone who thinks it is unimportant if others have to work harder to understand what they are saying? An FU if ever there was.
If I try to learn a foreign language, how else is my teacher to assess me but by my ability to spell words and use grammar correctly? And naturally I would expect to gain extra credit for demonstrating a refined vocabulary, a vocabulary by which I can convey increasingly subtle meanings, meanings that are more precise, that possess nicer and finer distinctions, and allow a closer understanding of what I am struggling to communicate. Am I entitled to consider myself better than another student who cannot do these things quite so well? Well, yes, I imagine I am.
But then, it is also partly a question of how we measure success. Some people consider their language skills sufficient if they can order beer and get laid. A Maserati can achieve the same thing, and the comparison is not entirely frivolous since language is also a vehicle. Where do you want to go? Do you just want to get laid, or are you looking for a soul mate? Who is to say which is the higher purpose?
In India, the relationship between a musician and his instrument is deeply personal. Ravi Shankar was almost physically sick when he saw Jimi Hendrix deliberately destroy one of his beautiful guitars on stage. Would the world be a better place if everybody shared Ravi’s reverence for their means of expression? Well, I tend to think so. But did Jimi create something wonderfully liberating and new through his sacrilegious disrespect, his deconstruction of pre-existing prejudices and expectations? Well, again, I like to think so. (“Do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself?”) But as an ad for bass guitars once had Billy Sheehan pretending to say “You’ve got to know the rules before you can break them.”
In life, in literature, sometimes there is a point to doing the hard thing, and even in making it harder than necessary. But usually, I believe, it is our human duty to make things easier for others to understand. “Speak clearly, write well, do the best you can. Make the effort so that others don’t have to. Act your age.” When is this advice ever invalid?
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