(Almost) Wordless Wednesday May 4, 2016
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.3 comments
Linguistic knowledge (black line) versus pedantry (red line), a graph
A. Danger point. Increased linguistic knowledge has led to a surge in linguistic pedantry, resulting in an imbalance.
B. Crisis point. Full on pedant. False confidence in good linguistic knowledge has led to pedantic half-truths outweighing facts.
C. The road to recovery. Taking time to understand how language actually owrks has led to a more tolerant outlook.
D. A sensible place to be. The more you know about language, the more you see the nonsense of linguistic pedantry. Be aware that at point D you may be called upon to challenge people at point B. This can be difficult, as people at point B often have the weight of public opinion behind them. Be patient, and encourage them to move towards point C.
Musings from an overworked translator 