Don't we care about our language?

[venator]

The Queen's English Society is to close for lack of interest.

A sad commentary on the steady decline of standards..

At least, the Apostrophe Protection Society is still in business...

http://www.guardian.c...sh-society-enuf-innit

[emmie]

Ladyb, exactly, children need to feel they fit in with their peers, it's a shame that some get bullied or pulled up if they speak properly.

[Tilly2]

Thanks for the link, venator.

[jake-the-peg]

I'm sure you meant it a shame if they're bullied if they speak *differently* didn't you em?

Or are you happy for kids who speak "common" to be bullied?

[Mamyalynne]

"George Bernard Shaw tried to persuade people not to put in the possessive apostrophe, but this has not caught on. Nevertheless, if in doubt it is better to leave an apostrophe out than to put it in. This is because if you leave it out incorrectly this will be put down either to an oversight or to an affinity with the views of George Bernard Shaw. On the other hand, if you put it in incorrectly this will be attributed (rightly) to ignorance."

[ladybirder]

Nobody in their right mind would be happy for ANY children to be bullied.

[emmie]

no i meant speak properly. I listen to some young people and every other word is innit, as though they cannot string two sentences together without resorting to saying it.

[jake-the-peg]

And by properly you mean like you?

[emmie]

why are you getting personal.

[FredPuli43]

Years ago,the school 'swot' was mocked or bullied in quite refined schools, ladybirder. Children will always bully those who don't fit their idea of normal, whatever that is, be it speaking 'posh' or not. A friend suffered on going to boarding school because her Lancashire accent was not 'posh' like the others'. (She rapidly learnt to speak like them, to save herself).

Teachers have complained that those who want to study are actively discouraged because studying is not seen as 'cool'. The answer may be to have streamed into classes where study is seen as normal and desirable, but even then they may be picked on others.

[emmie]

fred, sadly the pack mentality.

[zebo]

I'm in favour of a take over, can I submit the following for instant eradication please, or rather, may I submit?

Kwik eg Kwik fit
'R' egToys'R'Us
ism used in words such as Americanism, which is itself an Americanism.

[jake-the-peg]

Because you seem to want everybody to be like you

You seem to have no tolerance for variation

It's not just you but many on this thread that have a notion of "correct English"

They mean "what they were taught in school"

When you think careflly about it, it's as I said in my first post, the "Everybody should be like me society"

[ladybirder]

I went to a 'refined' boarding school myself Fred, years ago, and effortlessly began to speak the same as the other girls.

And when I left, I just as quickly reverted back so as not to get the mickey taken out of me.

Today I can slip easily between the two. Nobody can ever guess correctly where I am from.

[emmie]

JTP, you don't know me, so not sure how you can judge. The same old story i am afraid, express an opinion, and get slated for it.

[chaptazbru]

But that's what JTP does em - he's a sh*t stirrer !!

[venator]

Fredpuli - my avatar is the obsolete letter yogh, which was variously pronounced, but often as a sort of gh. As it looked like a Z, many copyists wrote it as a Z.

Thus Menzies is pronounced Meng....