%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 A tentative blog to test the temperature. |
|
Ten years ago I was writing several blogs on various subjects - F1 motor racing, Music, Classic Cars, Great Romances and, most crushingly, a personal journal that included my thoughts on America, memories of England and Africa, opinion, humour, writing and anything else that occurred. It all became too much (I was attempting to update the journal every day) and I collapsed, exhausted and thoroughly disillusioned in the end. So this blog is indeed a Toe in the Water, a place to document my thoughts in and on WdC but with a determination not to get sucked into the blog whirlpool ever again. Here's hoping.     |
| Don’t Send Me the Memo Something weird is going on in the language. Words that I have known, heard, and generally become familiar with all my life are suddenly being pronounced in entirely new and odd ways. I don’t mean the occasional obvious mispronunciation by someone who has only read the word before. This seems to be a widespread conspiracy, with lots of people suddenly saying the word in the new way, as though a memo had gone out overnight instructing everyone to use the new pronunciation. And I never get the memo. Not that I would go along with it anyway. An example is what has happened to the word “divisive” recently. In the last few weeks, I’ve heard nobody pronounce it in the old (correct) way of “div-aye-siv.” Suddenly it seems that it’s being said as “di-viz-if.” Not only is it strange to my ear, it divorces the word from its origin, the word “divide.” And that’s just the latest example. You can dismiss me as a dinosaur, but I refuse to be swayed by these sudden bouts of communal agreement to change pronunciation. If we’re to keep the language understandable, we need to stop going along with every mangled attempt at redefining the way words are spoken. If it was good enough for my ancestors, it’s good enough for me! Word count: 218 |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
But anyway, this was so well-written. Again, thank you.
