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Linguistics (mander.xyz)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[+] [email protected] -22 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

This is how descriptivists try to cope with the fact that they're academics who claim that some random guy who has never seen a dictionary knows better than academics do.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Even descriptivists accept there has to be some degree of balance. Yes, language evolves, that doesn't mean I can start calling my shoes bhurghs and expect anyone to know what I'm talking about.

But if it catches on...

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Except there's quite a few descriptivists online that take that very stance.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

name one

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (2 children)

There's literally one in the topic of this post. And don't tell me you haven't dealt with crazy randos on Reddit that rake the same stance

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I've seen descriptivists take the position that if enough people use a made up word it counts as communication, but the only people I've ever seen saying "well I'm gonna call a tree a xopo instead" are prescriptivists who don't understand descriptivism.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

There are so many specific technical things in my workplace that have words in the small group that cares about them.

They won't find their way into dictionaries, but they are meaningful and useful. Some words like that have leaked into popular speech; my work isn't the sort to have its gone grown words spread.

(My phone dislikes me pluralising "cares". I presume it was taught in America)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Yeah, basically if you say something and someone understands it you've successfully communicated. Dictionaries are always lagging behind popular usage.

In your phrase "group that cares", cares is 3rd person singular. There's no reason for a program to ever flag that as a spelling mistake so I'm not sure what's going on with that.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

You got trolled bro

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Tell me this, why don't "but" and "put" sound similar?

What about "height" and "weight", what's the rule here? And what makes a letter silent in a word? If any of these rules have exceptions, then why are there exceptions?

They are "descriptives" that's literally in the name. Mocking them is equivalent to mocking historians for only knowing the past and not being able to predict the future.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Well, I mean describin' ain't easy.