On Language and Writing
I walked into it, as my wife was putting the girls down for the night. The first thing that I heard was, “No, dear. Ain’t isn’t a word.” The wife then turns to me, and she says, “Isn’t that right?”
Well, you know. And I am not sure why this time, I unexpectedly answered, “Well, Evyn . . . it really depends how and when you use it.”
I guess it was the mood I was in – and after about 30 seconds of my wife’s ranting – I was ready for the debate. She ends by saying, “And You . . . You were an English major! Hrrrmmmph!” <– (or some other equivalently weighted monosyllabic grunt).
My response – “That’s right.”
Briefly on Dogmatism – Where Good Thought Goes Bad
You know, it starts in grade school as the preceding back-and-forth portrays. Your teachers would say – “It’s a rule. Ain’t isn’t a word.” And that’s what we are taught. I might even suggest that, here, on that night, I probably should have landed on that side of the argument (you know, because we are trying to teach a six-year-old how to effectively use the language). But I didn’t, less to advocate for the devil, and more because I really feel that “ain’t” is a word.
In my eyes, “ain’t” is simply a synonym for the word “isn’t”. I mean – you understand what is meant when I say, “Dogmatism ain’t cool.” Right?
My point is – and I won’t digress too deeply into my catholic school upbringing, nor will I address the actions of some of our supposed leaders. The point, though — we as communicating creatures, smart enough to develop language, must realize that it is just a language – used, at times inadequately, to communicate true feelings, intentions and/or philosophical thought.
I mean — why be so damn critical anyway? I just isn’t constructive.
Means to the End
In a recent Curb Your Enthusiasm (one of my favs), Larry criticized his father for skimping by a few letter on his mother’s tombstone. At the bottom, it read, “Past in 2001” (or something in that line). OK, while probably not that respectful, it certainly was creative, and well, didn’t it still communicate the information it needed to?
Let’s put it this way. Likely, you use Twitter or you have turned to texting from your cell phone. Written communication, it seems, is being clipped at times to a set of commonly accepted acronyms and abbreviations.
That said — I am almost certain that you know what these three-letter combinations mean — LOL, IMO, WT*. And they work, they do a great job of saving valuable (cyber) space, and they do a pretty decent job at communicating . . . as long as everyone is on the same page.
And Of Course I See the Irony of It All – Self-Editing is Hard!
I swing to both ends of this. The rules debate. I will admit it – I am a notoriously bad speller, famous for dropping words, and even more guilty of not proofing what I spit out.
I, at times, justify this for myself by saying, well as long as I communicated what I am trying to communicate. And, yes, I know others say — typos, mispellings, and dropped words are just plain unprofessional, and further — they distract from the points you are trying to make. Those folks are probably right, and I work at improving my own shortcomings every day.
For me, and I want to give a big shout to all of the professional editors of the world, self-editing is hard! I mean this both from a proofreading standpoint, as well as, and all the way up to content management. I am frequently amazed at what these people, you know that are filling the web, pull off on a repeatable basis.
Words are Cheap, They Say
And the question, again: There sure are a lot of expert writers providing outstanding content for a myriad of outlets. And I ask myself, why jump in?
Well, simply to try to communicate and connect with the people of the world. I hope I am doing a decent job.
Update: Communication, btw, is not limited to the written or spoken word. It is probably the single most important aspect of a home project. For more on Home Projects, you could always see BuildingMoxie.com. For more on working with Communication, in my opinion, the most essential skill, please see my resume.
Thanks for reading & BMoxie BMore! ~jb (This post was originally published on BuildingMoxie.com. This is how I used to sign off back in 2009. Short for “Building Moxie Baltimore”, my original Twitter handle.)