Quote:
Originally Posted by carrie721
of course language is ever-evolving, but i tend to be pretty conservative regarding what constitutes a valid contribution to the language and what does not. what is the point of making up a word if one already exists to express what you're thinking? the point of language is to be precise and efficient (if you know what you're doing). what kind of noodle-brained bloviator thinks that what he/she is feeling is SO erudite and SO important that he needs to make up a word to express it? (see what i did there?)
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Agreed. Mark just sounded pretty black-or-white about it, and I wanted to point out the evolution of language didn't stop a few hundred years ago. Great example of this: urbandictionary.com. Although most of those words and phrases will never be "validated" and used universally, it shows the expansive influence that society has on language. We don't have the right to assume that our generation's contributions to language won't be critical in the future. The creation of valid words (those tried and tested over time) isn't limited to our great writers. I think that's the interesting thing about modern linguistics-- our entire society contributes to the major changes in language, like with the newest OED additions. Pretty cool.
04-09-2011, 02:19 AM
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