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Old 10-19-2004, 02:12 AM   #19 (permalink)
jimbob
Crazy
 
Location: Liverpool UK
I've no problem with the language evolving and, as has been pointed out, it always has evolved. But in these days of global communications it evolves more rapidly than before and often not in a good way. Importing words like 'pyjama' from India extends and improves the language but misusing words like 'myself', 'its' or 'momentarily' (very popular in the UK lately) can confuse the language and defeat its purpose. The pace of change means that bad ideas spread quickly and before you know it half the population has to reinterpret an apostrophe in a plural before they can understand a sentence.

For those who've not heard the bad usages ('its' is universal but I don't know if the others have reached the rest of the planet), here goes

Myself:
Bad: "Bill and myself went over." I hear this sort of thing all the the time from media types on TV and radio, trying to sound contemporary.
Good: She called Bill and me over, so Bill and I went but Bill stopped half way and I carried on by myself.

It's:
Some people seem to think that because you say, for example, "the cat's head" then you could also use "it's head". This is just wrong. 'Its' is a word like 'his' or 'her', so the cat banged "its head". Now it's hurt!

Momentarily:
I was waiting to meet someone and was told they'd be with me soon and that I could sit down momentarily if I wanted! What's wrong with sitting down for a moment until they get here?
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