Time Has Turned a Page

Pedants fume helpless and seethe with rage, But linguists surrender to the age, Media always misuse Commoners to confuse, But rage not, time has turned a tired page. ______________________________________________________ It is the age of freedom, free for all. Words are used any which way. Grammar ultimately follows usage. Take epicentre. It may sound a bit grander than just centre, but it is used only in context of earth-quakes. But media prefer epicentre in all contexts— political, social, economic, any. Pedants and classicists and linguists may boil with rage. But dictionaries will ultimately capitulate and compromise. So, make no fuss, or you will be called doctrinaire, worse, obscurantist or obfuscator, or in the worst case a nit-picker hair-splitter. Alas, you thought you were a sophist and a scholar! ______________________________________________________ Tongue-in-cheek |05.05.14 |