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From web: On 'English war of words'
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-05 10:33

Variety brings English charm

I was astonished that you would give such prominent exposure to the comment of the writer.

Quite apart from the fact that the words she quoted are not in the slightest bit unusual or out of common use, the idea she is advocating - that the vocabulary of the press should be restricted - is of itself absolutely preposterous!

The proper use of a wide vocabulary brings accuracy, interest and brevity, all to be highly valued in the printed media, whereas students of the language can benefit from the stimulation of finding new words whose meaning and associations, whether gleaned from the context or determined directly from a dictionary, will by virtue of the effort involved, more readily lodge in their memory.

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What a dull newspaper it would be if it adhered to some arbitrary list of approved words! Furthermore, who would be qualified to draw up such a list? Certainly not the Americans who both speak and write in a manner so bereft of style, devoid of grammar and limited in vocabulary (not to mention mistaken in spelling) that it is hardly recognizable as an English based language at all!

When to this are added their excessive use of expletives and their obsessive observance of silly made-up rules of "politically correct" terminology, the result is nothing short of horrible! What about the English spoken by Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, North Africans, Indians, Pakistanis, Irish and many, many others? Personally, I love to hear the anachronistic (to my ears) vocabulary of speakers from the Indian sub-continent, or the clipped diction of speakers from Hong Kong or Singapore. It is this variety that brings to English its utility and its charm.

The writer's reference to a book of Mr Obama's speeches is a red herring, completely irrelevant. I wonder whether she has ever read the speeches of Mr Winston Churchill? I have read one of Mr Obama's books and noticed that he can be quite lax, even splitting infinitives, but so what? He is a politician not a literary luminary or a grammatical guru. My conclusion is, with regard to the ridiculous comment of Miss Linda Gibson, I will quote Mr Churchill, "Up with that I will not put!"

Paul Mosely

No arbitrary standard of English

Related readings:
From web: On 'English war of words' English war of words
From web: On 'English war of words' If it's a war, it's an invasion
How on earth can common words such as "whingers", "thrice" and "bourse" be regarded as outmoded? And how can anyone be so presumptuous as to claim that America sets the standard for English on the extraordinary grounds there happens to be a book titled Speak Like Barack Obama? On what grounds is the US president now the custodian of the English language?

Having criticized whingers, thrice and bourse as "quaint" and 19th century British words, the author then goes on to state that American English is the global lingua franca. Do we take it then that a Latin phrase referring to the Frankish language is now an example of modern American English but certain words that are more than 100 years old are unacceptable?

John Thomas

(The story was published on Nov 3, M3. It can be accessed at ww.chinadaily.com.cn/metro/)