this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2024
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[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

IMHO absolute descriptivism and absolute prescriptivism are both bullshit. Language evolves, but that doesn't mean there should be no rules.

[–] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Rules definitely help keep a language more consistent! They're not without use. It also helps to teach language to children and makes established parts of a language stay more consisteny over time. However, pretending there's a rhyme or reason behind all of them is hard to justify, as well as claiming "x is correct because of rule y" if a majority decides z is correct instead.

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 0 points 4 months ago

It's a bit hard to take in the present era, when the old rules were maintained by highly literate people like copy editors, and the new rules are made by anyone with a smartphone. I didn't agree with all the traditional rules, but they have an elegance and consistency that Internet discourse usually lacks.

[–] Plopp@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago